How Pricing Works
The anchor price still works after you have named it
Knowing that a crossed-out number is a persuasion device does not switch off the comparison it starts in your head.
Imran Shaikh
Contributing writer, Deals Ka Baap
Imran covers sale cycles and has learned exactly how long to wait.
Contact Imran through our contact page — mark your message for their attention and it will be passed on.
17 articles
How Pricing Works
One product, three prices, and why that is the design
Charging different people different amounts for the same thing is not a glitch in retail. It is the reason ranges, coupons and…
How Pricing Works
Landed cost: the number a shop is actually working from
The price a retailer pays a supplier is only the start of what the item costs before it reaches a shelf. The gap explains a lot of…
How Pricing Works
Dynamic pricing is a rule somebody wrote in advance
Prices that change through the day are not being adjusted by a person watching you. They are the output of conditions set before…
How Pricing Works
Every price contains the cost of the stock that never sold
Full-price shoppers pay for the markdowns, the returns, the theft and the damaged cartons. That is not a scandal, it is how the…
When to Buy
End-of-line stock does not behave like a seasonal sale
Two things marked down on the same day can be following completely different logics, and only one of them will still be there next…
When to Buy
Clearance runs to a schedule, not to a mood
The reductions that appear at the end of a season are usually planned in advance, in steps, with dates attached. You can shop the…
When to Buy
Seasonal goods are priced by how long a shop can hold them
The cost of storing something until next year is what decides whether it gets discounted now or quietly put away.
When to Buy
Waiting has a price, and it is the thing you do not own yet
Every strategy that involves holding out for a better number has a cost attached. Counting it stops patience turning into paralysis.
When to Buy
Prices move when stock arrives, not when the calendar says so
A delivery bay does more to set prices than any date on a poster. Watching what is coming in beats watching what is advertised.
When to Buy
Buying ahead for something you will certainly need
Forward buying converts a price you like today into a supply you will use later. It works exactly as well as your storage and your…
How Pricing Works
A repair bill is mostly time, and time is priced differently from things
Service pricing starts from an hour rather than an object, which is why two quotes for the same job can look nothing alike.
When to Buy
Sellers have deadlines too, and they are not the same as yours
Reporting periods, targets and stock counts create moments when a seller wants a sale more than it wants the margin.
When to Buy
Some things never get cheaper, and waiting costs you twice
Patience is a strategy for categories with falling cost curves; applied to the others it buys nothing and takes something away.
When to Buy
A cold snap is a demand event and prices treat it as one
Weather does not change what anything costs to produce, but it changes how many people want it on the same afternoon.
When to Buy
Last year's specification is this year's cheap one
In categories where production keeps improving, a given level of capability drifts downward in price without anything going on sale.
When to Buy
Delivery speed is a menu, and the default is rarely the cheapest line
Getting something sooner is a separate product from getting it at all, and it is priced against your impatience rather than against…