Pricing Methods - Shopping Deals

Since I love to shop, I found the pricing methods section of marketing very interesting. It turns out that some of my favorite shopping deals are due to companies' pricing strategies.  Some of my favorite deals are size discounts, price bundling, uniform delivered pricing, and loss leader pricing (aka BOGO!).

I recently watched the video "Costco Craze" and it gave great insight into the pricing strategy of size discounts.  A size discount is when a larger quantity of an item is sold at a lower cost per ounce.  This method is used to encourage consumers to purchase larger quantities each time they buy.  Costco has definitely mastered this technique.  They sell everything in bulk, so consumers are forced to buy more, while saving more.  I am a huge fan of Costco. They have great quality items and if you can eat all the food before it goes bad, it can really save you money!

Another of my favorite shopping deals is price bundling.  Price bundling is when a store sells more than one product for a single, lower price.  For example, I bought a new Serta mattress this year and the furniture store I purchased it from included a new set of sheets and bed rails for one lower price.  It was a great deal!

Zappos has come a long way from when it first started out.  Zappos started as an online shoe company and slowly grew to carry multiple clothing products.  Zappos is known for their great next-day, free shipping.  Zappos also has free returns.  I love shopping at Zappos because there is never the worry that I will order a product, dislike it, and not be able to send it back.  Zappos is well-liked buy shoppers because of its uniform delivery pricing.  Uniform delivery pricing is when the shipper charges one rate, no matter where the buyer is located, which makes things very simple.  Zappos offers free shipping and its customers love it!

Vanity clothing stores are one of my favorite places to shop for a BOGO.  For those of you that don't know, BOGO stands for buy one get one.  Usually Vanity will have buy one get one 50% off, which is a great deal.  Some stores will even do buy one get one free.  A BOGO is an example of loss leader pricing.  Loss leader pricing is when the store lowers the price below the store's cost, so the store is actually losing money.  However, loss leader pricing benefits the buyer and that's the reason why I love it!

Happy Shopping!