A response to Koku’s comments on Alpert, Wilson and Elliott’s article on price signaling

In a comment in a 1995 issue of the Journal of Consumer Marketing, Paul Koku criticizes an article in a 1993 issue of the Journal of Consumer Marketing, “Price signaling: does it ever work?”, by Alpert, Wilson and Elliott. In this response to Koku’s comment, it is argued that, although Koku views price signaling strictly as a borrowed concept, marketing is a mature discipline and is entitled to develop its own uses of such concepts. Furthermore, it is argued that the specifics of the case that was studied support the argument that price signaling (as defined in the 1993 article to mean using prices as a signal of quality when objective quality is not demonstrably superior) is only effective when combined with “premium quality positioning” throughout the marketing mix. Contrary to Koku’s argument, such premium quality positioning does succeed for the case that was studied, and prices above that which objective quality would support are sustained.