New Marketing Research Shows Price Point That Wins Shopper Loyalty

How much does loyalty really cost? According to a new report, “Loyalty Has a Price Tag,” from the Center for Marketing Analysis at the University at Buffalo School of Management there is a clearly defined value: a 20% discount.

The research, conducted in fall 2025 with a nationally representative sample of 2,011 U.S. consumers, reveals how shoppers think about loyalty, price and quality in a rapidly changing retail environment.

“What we’re seeing isn’t simple bargain hunting,” said Dinesh K. Gauri, chair of the Department of Marketing, Melvin H. Baker Professor of Marketing, and faculty director of the Center for Marketing Analysis in the UB School of Management. “Shoppers weigh price against experience. They want value, and they want trust.”

Key findings include:

• Loyalty is stickier than expected. The portion of shoppers easily swayed by small discounts has declined, even while deals still matter.
• A rough tipping point emerges. Slightly over half of respondents said they’d switch their main shopping destination for roughly a 20% price break, with younger consumers tolerating even steeper cuts.
• Quality still counts. Nearly all deal-seekers in the study said product quality influenced their choices.

Interestingly, dynamic pricing — where prices change based on demand or customer behavior — sparked dislike among more than half of participants. Among those who strongly dislike it, many said they’d leave a retailer for a modest discount elsewhere.

Fresh food remains tied to in-store visits, with most shoppers avoiding online meat and produce purchases, while categories like apparel continue to shift online.

“These patterns matter for companies making tradeoffs between pricing tactics and customer trust,” Gauri said.

The Center for Marketing Analysis connects research with real-world decisions in marketing and consumer behavior. More research and insights are available at management.buffalo.edu/centers/cma.