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Online Shoppers Naive About Online Prices
smooth wombat writes "Have you ever been shopping online and noticed the difference in prices for the same item at different stores? Do you realize that not only are the prices different from store to store but they could be different for you compared to someone else who shops at the same store? Nearly 2/3 of adult internet shoppers thought that practice was illegal according to a study (pdf format) conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. First-time buyers at a retailer could see higher prices than a firm's repeat customers, and retailers may not offer discounts to consumers who buy the same brands regularly without even looking at alternative products on the same site. From the article: 'The Annenberg study was based on results from a telephone survey from Feb. 8 to March 14 of 1,500 adults who said they had used the Internet within the past 30 days. The margin of sampling error was reported to be plus or minus 2.51 percentage points.'"
There was a story a few years ago about Amazon charging people different prices on the same items based on the customer's geographical location.
..etc across site, with the cheapest price on top. The information includes shipping costs:
You can use this site to compare prices on books, cds, dvds
http://www.bestbookbuys.com/
You can also blow your cookies and see what the prices are before you sign into your account.
I know the Slashdot crowd has a reputation of living in their parents' basement, but come on. Have any of you expressing surprise and outrage ever shopped in a grocery store? Let's see...
Almost every item is listed as a "regular price" and a "club price". If I possess one of their club cards (i.e. approximation of a frequent shopper), I pay the club price. If I don't possess such a card, I pay far more.
Oh, and then there's the whole coupon thing. Based on my shopping habits, sometimes a coupon prints out, making me further pay less than another consumer for the same item in the same store. Sometimes they even mail me a coupon to encourage me to buy a particular thing!
You can express your opinion on the fairness of this, but expressing surprise or doubt that this occurs only shows you haven't been paying attention in the online OR the offline world.
I'm a big tall mofo.
In economic terms, this is called the reserve price, or the price someone is not willing to exceed in order to purchase something. In a perfect economy everyone has their own unique reserve price that they feel is fair for what they are buying. It's been accepted in the airline industry for years, but I guess when it's applied to other items people feel like they were ripped off if they find that they could have gotten it cheaper.
First, it is completely OK for individuals to order from the Dell Small Business site. You can just use your full name as the "company" name, instead of making up any bogus company names.
I have ordered many times through the small business site. So did many people I know. I once asked the Dell sales rep assigned to the company I work with. The answer is exactly what I said above.
The Home site and the Small Business site, as well as other ones, are ran by different business units, which are independent of each other. They come up with their pricing, services terms and promotions.
Hmm - my understanding was that the Robinson Patman act was designed to prevent predatory pricing. This being the issue with large oil companies that forced out smaller oil companies by artificially selling oil cheaper in one region while charging higher prices in areas where there was no competition. www.ftc.gov/speeches/other/patman.htm Culturally, Americans like the Fair Deal concept. Other cultures find the "Fair Deal" concept laughable. They see it as a problem that Americans don't value money enough and that if you are dumb enough to spend too much - or conversely if a business is dumb enough to be duped into accepting a dishonest product return in the name of customer service. Well, then you deserve it.
I used to work for a company that was an Amazon store and I know for a fact that Amazon does this.
You don't see it from one computer to the other because Amazon is extremely good at tracking users from their servers.
Good for you! I recently read "The Paradox of Choice" that describes two types of people: maximizers and satisficers. Its conclusion was that people who are satisfied with what they get are happier than those who continually search for something better. Although the satisfied people are quantitatively worse off, they are qualitatively better off since they are happier.
And sometimes, paying a higher price can be better. The big guys can usually lower their prices more than the little guys. There *IS* an overhead that merchants and suppliers incur, even in online stores. They may not be trying to screw you, they might just be trying to make a decent profit. Just because Wal*Mart can offer you the lowest price, does that mean you should shop there? I don't. I don't like the way they do business, so I avoid them. Lowest price does not always mean best for the customer.
I work in the online retail business, and e-tailers know that there are several factors in getting and retaining customers. One of them is price. Pricing for internet retailers is very very complex, and prices may change daily because of a variety of factors. Each retailer may have their own methods, so to say "the industry" does something is somewhat misleading.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.