{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,18]],"date-time":"2026-01-18T11:47:19Z","timestamp":1768736839925,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,22]],"date-time":"2021-04-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1619049600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JRFM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This paper aims to (1) compare consumers\u2019 preferences between individual products and bundles as well as (2) investigate some of the factors involved in bundle characteristics that may affect consumer\u2019s preferences. Those factors are complementarity, price level, and discount level. An online survey developed by means of questionnaires were collected from the Portuguese population. Student\u2019s t-tests were used to test the hypothesis formulated and to analyze the consumers\u2019 preferences. The findings corroborate that in a scenario where the bundle does not offer any discounts, preference of individual products is higher. When a 20% discount is assigned to bundles, the overall preference for individual products is still superior. By offering a discount level of 45%, the overall preference for bundles becomes higher. The positive effect of complementarity bundles valuation is confirmed. This is the first approach to evaluate the preferences between bundles and individual products in the Portuguese market. The findings contribute to clarify the customer map within a Business Model Canvas. Furthermore, this paper analyzes the bundle complementarity and discount level effects simultaneously.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jrfm14050192","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,22]],"date-time":"2021-04-22T13:59:14Z","timestamp":1619099954000},"page":"192","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Preference between Individual Products and Bundles: Effects of Complementary, Price, and Discount Level in Portugal"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Paulo","family":"Martins","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Economics and Management, Universidade Lus\u00edada, Norte, 4369-006 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2967-2583","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paula","family":"Rodrigues","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Economics and Management, Universidade Lus\u00edada, Norte, 4369-006 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Carlos","family":"Martins","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Economics and Management, Universidade Lus\u00edada, Norte, 4369-006 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2026-7365","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Teresa","family":"Barros","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIICESI-ESTG, Polit\u00e9cnico do Porto, 4610-156 Felgueiras, Portugal"},{"name":"International Research Institute for Economics and Management, Hong Kong, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4156-7922","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nelson","family":"Duarte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIICESI-ESTG, Polit\u00e9cnico do Porto, 4610-156 Felgueiras, Portugal"},{"name":"International Research Institute for Economics and Management, Hong Kong, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2486-4511","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rebecca Kechen","family":"Dong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Research Institute for Economics and Management, Hong Kong, China"},{"name":"School of Management, University of South Australia, Adelaide 5001, Australia"}]},{"given":"Yiyi","family":"Liao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Research Institute for Economics and Management, Hong Kong, China"}]},{"given":"Ubaldo","family":"Comite","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Business Sciences, University Giustino Fortunato, 82100 Benevento, Italy"}]},{"given":"Xiaoguang","family":"Yue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIICESI-ESTG, Polit\u00e9cnico do Porto, 4610-156 Felgueiras, Portugal"},{"name":"International Research Institute for Economics and Management, Hong Kong, China"},{"name":"Department of Business Sciences, University Giustino Fortunato, 82100 Benevento, Italy"},{"name":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus"},{"name":"Rattanakosin International College of Creative Entrepreneurship, Rajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin, Nakhon Pathom 73170, Thailand"},{"name":"School of Domestic and International Business, Banking and Finance, Romanian-American University, 012101 Bucharest, Romania"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"475","article-title":"Commodity Bundling and the Burden of Monopoly","volume":"90","author":"Adams","year":"1976","journal-title":"Journal of Economics"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"71","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jbusres.2009.01.011","article-title":"The Effect of Incentives on Customer Evaluations of Service Bundles","volume":"63","author":"Andrews","year":"2009","journal-title":"Journal of Business Research"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1613","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.45.12.1613","article-title":"Bundling Information Goods: Pricing, Profits, and Efficiency","volume":"45","author":"Bakos","year":"1998","journal-title":"Management Science"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"416","DOI":"10.2307\/3151334","article-title":"Consumer Perceptions of Comparative Price Advertisements","volume":"18","author":"Bitta","year":"1981","journal-title":"Journal of Marketing Research"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"215","DOI":"10.1207\/S15327663JCP1203_04","article-title":"Partitioned Presentation of Multicomponent Bundle Prices: Evaluation, Choice and Underlying Processing Effects","volume":"12","author":"Chakravarti","year":"2002","journal-title":"Journal of Consumer Psychology"},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Chen, Ting, Yang, Feng, and Guo, Xiaolong (2020). Optimal Bundling in a Distribution Channel in the Presence of Substitutability and Complementarity. International Journal of Production Research, 1\u201321."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1177\/205157071202700205","article-title":"The Role of Bundling in Firms\u2019 Marketing Strategies: A Synthesis","volume":"27","author":"Chiambaretto","year":"2012","journal-title":"Recherche et Applications En Marketing (English Edition)"},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"377","article-title":"Commodity Bundling","volume":"74","author":"Dansby","year":"1984","journal-title":"American Economic Review"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"34","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jretai.2005.01.002","article-title":"Effects of Pricing and Promotion on Consumer Perceptions: It Depends on How You Frame It","volume":"81","author":"Darke","year":"2005","journal-title":"Journal of Retailing"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Derdenger, Timothy, and Kumar, Vineet (2012). The Dynamic Effects of Bundling as a Product Strategy. Harvard Business School.","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.2175243"},{"key":"ref_11","first-page":"307","article-title":"Effects of Price, Brand, and Store Information on Buyers\u2019 Product Evaluations","volume":"28","author":"Dodds","year":"1991","journal-title":"Journal of Marketing Research"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"311","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00993916","article-title":"A Demonstration of Anomalies in Evaluations of Bundling","volume":"3","author":"Drumwright","year":"1992","journal-title":"Marketing Letters"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Epstein, Leonardo D., Inostroza-Quezada, Ignacio E., Goodstein, Ronald C., and Choi, S. Chan (2021). Dynamic Effects of Store Promotions on Purchase Conversion: Expanding Technology Applications with Innovative Analytics. Journal of Business Research, 128.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jbusres.2021.02.032"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"647","DOI":"10.1509\/jmkr.44.4.647","article-title":"Shopper Response to Bundle Promotions for Packaged Goods","volume":"44","author":"Foubert","year":"2007","journal-title":"Journal of Marketing Research"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"47","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00435195","article-title":"Consumer Evaluation of Multi-Product Bundles: An Information Integration Analysis","volume":"2","author":"Gaeth","year":"1990","journal-title":"Marketing Letters"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2120","DOI":"10.1002\/smj.2797","article-title":"Ain\u2019t It \u2018Suite\u2019? Bundling in the PC Office Software Market","volume":"39","author":"Gandal","year":"2018","journal-title":"Strategic Management Journal"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"111","DOI":"10.1086\/296241","article-title":"Conjoint Analysis of Price Premiums","volume":"57","author":"Goldberg","year":"1984","journal-title":"The Journal of Business"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"74","DOI":"10.1177\/002224298705100206","article-title":"The Price Bundling Os Services: A Normative Framework","volume":"51","author":"Guiltinan","year":"1987","journal-title":"Journal of Marketing"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.1016\/0148-2963(94)00014-6","article-title":"Impact of Bundle Type, Price Framing and Familiarity on Purchase Intention for the Bundle","volume":"33","author":"Harlam","year":"1995","journal-title":"Journal of Business Research"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19","DOI":"10.1177\/0092070305281708","article-title":"Functional Compatibility Risk and Consumer Preference for Product Bundles","volume":"34","author":"Harris","year":"2006","journal-title":"Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science"},{"key":"ref_21","first-page":"99","article-title":"Pricing Strategy and Practice Product and Service Bundling Decisions and Their Effects on Purchase Intention","volume":"5","author":"Herrmann","year":"1997","journal-title":"MCB University Press"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1481","DOI":"10.1111\/poms.12686","article-title":"Improving Profits by Bundling Vertically Differentiated Products","volume":"26","author":"Honhon","year":"2017","journal-title":"Production and Operations Management"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"51","DOI":"10.1057\/palgrave.jibs.8490637","article-title":"Country\/Service Bundling in International Tourism: Criteria for the Selection of an Efficient Bundle Mix and Allocation of Joint Revenues","volume":"10","author":"Kinberg","year":"1979","journal-title":"Journal of International Business Studies"},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Knutsson, Erika (2011). Bundling for consumers? Understanding Complementarity and Its Effect on Consumers Preferences and Satisfaction. [Ph.D. dissertation, Ume\u00e5 School of Business]."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"328","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpe.2018.08.017","article-title":"Bundling or Unbundling? Integrated Simulation Model of Optimal Pricing Strategies","volume":"204","author":"Kopczewski","year":"2018","journal-title":"International Journal of Production Economics"},{"key":"ref_26","first-page":"39","article-title":"Content Valuation Strategies for Digital Subscription Platforms","volume":"72","author":"Seifert","year":"2020","journal-title":"Journal of Cultural Economics"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"267","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-6486.1991.tb00948.x","article-title":"Commodity Bundling For Competitive Advantage: Strategic Implications","volume":"28","author":"Lawless","year":"1991","journal-title":"Journal of Management Studies"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"625","DOI":"10.1111\/deci.12238","article-title":"Bundling of Vertically Differentiated Products in a Supply Chain","volume":"48","author":"Ma","year":"2017","journal-title":"Decision Sciences"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1086\/296232","article-title":"Economic Foundations for Pricing","volume":"57","author":"Nagle","year":"1984","journal-title":"The Journal of Business"},{"key":"ref_30","first-page":"351","article-title":"The Effect of Price, Brand Name, and Store Name on Buyers\u2019 Perceptions of Product Quality: An Integrative Review","volume":"26","author":"Rao","year":"1989","journal-title":"Journal of Marketing Research"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"77","DOI":"10.1287\/mksc.18.1.77","article-title":"What You Don\u2019t Know About Customer- Perceived Quality: The Role of Customer Expectation Distributions","volume":"18","author":"Rust","year":"1999","journal-title":"Marketing Science"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1086\/296250","article-title":"Pricing of Product Bundles Gaussian Demand and Commodity Bundling","volume":"57","author":"Schmalensee","year":"1984","journal-title":"The Journal of Business"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"737","DOI":"10.1509\/jmr.15.0277","article-title":"Seller Beware: How Bundling Affects Valuation","volume":"54","author":"Shaddy","year":"2016","journal-title":"Journal of Marketing Research"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"170","DOI":"10.1509\/jppm.29.2.170","article-title":"Consumption Effects of Bundling: Consumer Perceptions, Firm Actions, and Public Policy Implications","volume":"29","author":"Sharpe","year":"2010","journal-title":"Journal of Public Policy & Marketing"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"53","DOI":"10.2753\/MTP1069-6679150104","article-title":"The Effects of Price Discount and Product Complementarity on Consumer Evaluations of Bundle Components","volume":"15","author":"Sheng","year":"2007","journal-title":"The Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Stigler, George J. (1962). United States v. Loew\u00b4s Inc.: A Note On Block\u2014Booking, University of Chicago Press.","DOI":"10.1086\/scr.1963.3108731"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"55","DOI":"10.1509\/jmkg.66.1.55.18455","article-title":"Strategic Bundling of Products and Prices: A New Synthesis for Marketing","volume":"66","author":"Stremersch","year":"2002","journal-title":"Journal of Marketing"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1086\/296044","article-title":"A Theory of Monopoly of Complementary Goods","volume":"52","author":"Telser","year":"1979","journal-title":"The Journal of Business"},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"62","DOI":"10.1080\/17441056.2017.1314136","article-title":"Out of the Box: Illegal Tying and Google\u2019s Suite of Apps for the Android OS","volume":"13","author":"Todd","year":"2017","journal-title":"European Competition Journal"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"45","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpe.2017.09.016","article-title":"Optimal Bundling under Imperfect Competition","volume":"195","author":"Vamosiu","year":"2017","journal-title":"International Journal of Production Economics"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1086\/367748","article-title":"Optimal Bundling and Pricing Under a Monopoly: Contrasting Complements and Substitutes from Independently Valued Products","volume":"76","author":"Venkatesh","year":"2003","journal-title":"Journal of Business"},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"494","DOI":"10.1177\/002224379303000408","article-title":"A Probabilistic Approach to Pricing a Bundle of Products or Services","volume":"30","author":"Venkatesh","year":"1993","journal-title":"Journal of Marketing Research"},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"314","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jbusres.2021.02.025","article-title":"Maximizing What? The Effect of Maximizing Mindset on the Evaluation of Product Bundles","volume":"128","author":"Xia","year":"2021","journal-title":"Journal of Business Research"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"342","DOI":"10.1086\/209402","article-title":"How Buyers Evaluate Product Bundles: A Model of Anchoring and Adjustment","volume":"21","author":"Yadav","year":"1994","journal-title":"Journal of Consumer Research"},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"206","DOI":"10.1177\/0092070395233005","article-title":"Bundle Evaluation in Different Market Segments: The Effects of Discount Framing and Buyers\u2019 Preference Heterogeneity","volume":"23","author":"Yadav","year":"1995","journal-title":"Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science"},{"key":"ref_46","unstructured":"Ye, Li, Xie, Hong, Wu, Weijie, and Lui, John C.S. (, January November). Mining Customer Valuations to Optimize Product Bundling Strategy. Paper presented at the 17th IEEE International Conference on Data Mining, New Orleans, LA, USA."}],"container-title":["Journal of Risk and Financial Management"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1911-8074\/14\/5\/192\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T05:51:17Z","timestamp":1760161877000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1911-8074\/14\/5\/192"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,22]]},"references-count":46,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5]]}},"alternative-id":["jrfm14050192"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/jrfm14050192","relation":{},"ISSN":["1911-8074"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1911-8074","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,22]]}}}