

'Fair and square' pricing? That'll never work, JC Penney. We like being shafted - ascine
http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/25/11864178-fair-and-square-pricing-thatll-never-work-jc-penney-we-like-being-shafted

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jarrodtaylor
Isn't their plan to transition to a different customer base in an effort to
not be a bargain based store anymore?

There are bound to be loses during the transition.

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fuzzythinker
Same thinking here. Good overall article, but instead of losing all "price
discriminators", and nothing in return, Ron is hoping to transform JCP into a
retailer that caters to a different class of consumers I believe.

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Corrado
I've always wondered about the $.99 thing in pricing. Personally, I hate being
manipulated by companies that believe I don't know the difference between
$199.99 and $200.00. In fact, one of the reasons I went out on my own was to
offer my products at a "simple" price; it costs $3,000. Period. There are no
discounts, no extra fees, no price haggling, no weird $.99. Now I wonder if
I'm doing myself a disservice.

Do these rules apply to software purchases? It really irks me to have to "call
to get a quote" when I want to know how much a enterprise software package
costs. I don't want a sales guy to call me back, I want to know how much your
product costs and what the fine print says.

Am I wrong? Would you rather purchase something that you knew the price of or
haggle for the best deal?

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greedo
It depends on whom is making the purchasing decision. If a manager or CTO is
making the purchase, and all their previous purchases require elaborate
proposals as well as discounting, bundling etc, than an outlier where it's a
no haggle price might make them question either the application or the company
supporting it. I've personally had difficulty throughout my career in getting
opensource applications approved unless there's a company behind the
application willing to offer enterprise class support.

No haggle sounds great, but it hasn't been all that successful. Look at the
Saturn brand, before it went under. It attracted those who dislike the
traditional auto sales model, but it didn't produce a dramatic change in
revenue for Saturn.

What happens when you have a non-negotiable price is that your profit margin
is fixed. And for some buyers, they simply hate the idea that you're getting
X% no matter what. They want to get the best deal, or more importantly, what
they think is the best deal.

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rogerbinns
I'm convinced that this is a byproduct of Americans' inability to do maths.
People seem to look at monthly prices and go based on that. They are okay with
sales taxes not being displayed in stores. Cell phones and service are
notorious.

Probably the best explanation is the historic optimism. If you strongly
believe your personal future is going to be better then the price this month
is all that matters because next month it will be a smaller part of the bigger
pie you will have.

I especially like this quote:

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as
an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires"

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duaneb
I think that Americans can do math as well as anybody, but they like being
deceived, as strange as that sounds. They like the fantasy of $30/month even
though they're paying $80. Furthermore, I think the people who most appreciate
what JCPenney did are the people with the tightest wallets in this economy.

All of this is pure speculation, BTW.

