10 Florida Agricultural Experiment Stations

it was necessary to persuade management that their relationship
with customers would not be jeopardized by the pricing arrange-
ment. Furthermore, since food store management could not be
expected to bear the loss of revenue resulting from the sale of
orange concentrate at below-market prices, an acceptable plan
for reimbursement was required.

TABLE 1.-PROPOSED EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN FOR STUDY OF CONSUMER
 RESPONSE TO VARYING PRICES FOR FROZEN ORANGE CONCENTRATE.

 ___Stores
 Period Dura- I I
 tion 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

 (Test Prices)*
 I week O 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 II weeks ++ + + 0 ++ 0
 III 3 weeks 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 IV 3 weeks - 0 0 ++ + - + ++ -

 Price symbols are interpreted in descending order as follows: (+ +) represents the
highest test price; (+), the second highest price; (0), the market price; (-), first test
price below the market price; and (--), the lowest test price.
 Prices were to be assigned to stores at random with the restriction that, for a given
store, the price assigned in weeks two, three and four could not be repeated in weeks eight,
nine and ten.

 Because advertising could create undesired distortions in
customer purchases as well as present a real threat to customer
relations, consent on the part of management to refrain from
advertising orange concentrate during the course of the study
was vital.
 In addition to the above operational problems, a few other
lesser refinements required notice. Measures to maintain the
normal atmosphere within each sample store clearly would be
desirable. Consequently, it was deemed advisable that enumer-
ators assigned to the various stores should tactfully dissuade
store personnel from acquainting customers with the nature of
the pricing test. As a matter of fact, it was felt that the ex-
periment would function more smoothly if even the sales per-
sonnel were not informed of the details. Seemingly, such a
precaution would lessen the danger of store personnel having an
undue influence on customer actions. Enumerators were to be
charged with the additional responsibility of maintaining, at all
times, a near-normal display of the test product-a provision