Partitioned or All‐Inclusive Pricing? It Depends on the Brand–Customer Relationship Type

ABSTRACT Partitioned pricing (separately presenting the base price and a surcharge) and all‐inclusive pricing (combining both into a single figure) are ubiquitous pricing strategies, but their relative effects remain unclear. This study explores how the effectiveness of these pricing strategies varies between communal and exchange brand–customer relationships. We argue that consumers in exchange relationships process information more concretely and exhibit lower brand trust than those in communal relationships. Consequently, they are more likely to notice the surcharge, question its fairness, and express lower purchase intentions for partitioned pricing relative to all‐inclusive pricing. This difference is expected to diminish under communal relationship conditions, where processing is more abstract and trust is higher. We conducted three experiments to confirm these propositions. Furthermore, results indicate perceptions of surcharge fairness mediate the interaction effect of pricing strategy and relationship type on purchase intentions. These findings underscore the roles of perceived fairness, information processing, and perceived brand trust in shaping the effectiveness of pricing strategies across brand–customer relationships. Practical implications include guidance for marketers on how to align pricing strategy with underlying customer relationship types.