British supermarkets have plenty of products priced at round pounds, or £x.50. This is particularly the case with BOGOF deals, e.g. two packets of cheese might cost £3 whereas individually they may cost £1.89 each. Why is this?
There are two reasons. The round price is an honest price, nobody has tried to fiddle the price to look less than it is by putting the 99 in there. Secondly, for those shopping to a budget, e.g. not planning to spend more than £20, then it is a lot easier to add up round figures than lots of £x.99's.
The one that I don't understand is £x.95. Why would a retailer want to put (say) a thousand items through the till at £x.95 when they might as well be £x.99? 1000 * 4p is £40. That might not seem a lot of money, however, at minimum wage(!), that is enough for some extra pair of hands on a busy Saturday.
With online retail a lot of websites charge round figures for delivery and services such as gift wrapping. I can see the sense in that, however, it would be good to see an A/B test from a major retailer to see if getting that wrong means more customers bailing out at checkout.
Speaking of "two for $X", i've noticed plenty of shops leave it to the consumer to assume that they have to buy two when in fact the price of one is $X/2.
Back when I worked at Target, it was also this way. As I understood it, the system simply did not allow for a multiple item discount. The "3 for $4" ads did always say, in fine print, something like: unit price $1.33.
What got me was that a 12-pack of certain replacement razors was more expensive than three four-packs. I distinctly remember that one, having done a double take and checking my math with a friend.
There are two reasons. The round price is an honest price, nobody has tried to fiddle the price to look less than it is by putting the 99 in there. Secondly, for those shopping to a budget, e.g. not planning to spend more than £20, then it is a lot easier to add up round figures than lots of £x.99's.
The one that I don't understand is £x.95. Why would a retailer want to put (say) a thousand items through the till at £x.95 when they might as well be £x.99? 1000 * 4p is £40. That might not seem a lot of money, however, at minimum wage(!), that is enough for some extra pair of hands on a busy Saturday.
With online retail a lot of websites charge round figures for delivery and services such as gift wrapping. I can see the sense in that, however, it would be good to see an A/B test from a major retailer to see if getting that wrong means more customers bailing out at checkout.