Does Price Matter?

Does price matter to the average online buyer?

Perhaps one of the most important things to firstly clarify is the fact that almost everything is now sold online. This is an important concept to bear in mind because the question of whether price matters or not really does have a great deal to do with what you are selling.

A few years ago perhaps it would have been fair to say that there were some things that couldn’t be sold online, such as cosmetic surgery for instance. In today’s market, even cosmetic surgeons can make online sales. The internet user may not buy online directly (they may contact the cosmetic surgery beforehand based on what they have read on the Internet before making a financial commitment) but essentially the selling is done online.

Why is this important? Why does the fact that anything can be sold online affect whether price matters or not?

The answer lies in a couple of areas highlighted below:

1. Online buying and selling allows the customer to compare price and other qualities more easily.
2. It’s easier to discard items through the online buying process than in a store for many reasons.
3. Online advertising can include price deals that don’t exist in stores.
4. Different products sell differently.

Comparing Price and Other Qualities More Easily
If an online buyer has the opportunity to be able to see what a skirt costs in ten different retail outlets at the same time without having to physically go from one retail outlet to another, then price definitely does matter.

Ten years ago, people had no option but to go to the store and buy their product face to face. Saturday shopping days were (and still are if you bother to go) hellish experiences with too many people and ridiculously long queues which create very tired feet and backs at the end of the day. Just the thought of taking a look at the possible bargains that might be available in another shop was always just a little too much to bear for the average customer.

In this sense, buying online has made it easier for the customer to be more interested and affected by price. They can and are willing to shop around because they do so from the comfort of their own home.

Discarding Items Through the Online Buying Process
With internet buying, when you reach the checkout point and you have everything in your basket, you are able to review your purchases before you buy.

To avoid possible computer malfunctions, internet sites always give the consumer at least one opportunity, but normally more, to opt out of buying the products that they have selected. When you are in an ordinary store and you are about to pay, the cashier never says to you, "Are you sure you want to buy that?"

Knowing that we always have the opportunity to discard items from our basket, without having to physically put that item back on the shelf and without having to look someone in the eye and tell them that we don’t want what we have brought to the counter, makes the customer more selective about what they buy.

They are given the option to decide if what they are buying is really worth the money or not and there are many people out there who get all the way to the "pay for your shopping basket" section (I have definitely done it on a number of occasions) and then choose not to buy. One of the main factors for this change of mind is a crystal clear look at the payment figure on their screen, screaming out to them, "I am expensive! You don’t need me!"

Price matters online.

Online Advertising Deals
Many companies enjoy the liberty that online advertising and online shopping affords in terms of being able to offer promotions and deals to their customers.

There are a number of companies out there who will charge their customers less for the same product or service when it is bought online.

Why?

Because buying online is easier for a start. It is not difficult to find the time to buy something when you can do it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and without leaving your house. However, charging customers for less online than in the store is always a tempting strategy for retailers because consumers are interested in price.

If a customer knows that going online to buy will cost them less than going into the store, they will go online and buy. They may even buy that product online even though they didn’t really want it, but were tempted by the words "online sale" into purchasing the product / service anyway.

People love deals and when customers are presented with the idea that they will be saving money by buying online, they forget that if they don’t buy the product at all they’ll be saving even more money.

Advertising deals online which highlight price differences from the products bought in-store are a clear indication that in any business / field, price does matter online.

The Product Being Sold
If someone is looking for a good lawyer, price does not always matter. If someone is looking to download a DVD, price always matters. A cheap DVD download sounds like a good deal. A cheap doctor sounds like a visit from Jack the Ripper!

You need to be aware of what kind of market you are in before you decide whether price matters or not, because this will affect the way in which you advertise your products / services and the way in which you market your brand. "Free" is not always a positive keyword that should be floating around your website or your advertisements.

Sometimes people are actually looking to find the most expensive products too, don’t forget. For instance, when people want to buy a really expensive birthday gift for a loved one, when they want to experience a luxury two-week cruise or a luxury day in the spa. Sometimes people decide that they need to be spoiled a little or that they need to spoil a loved one. This customer mentality needs to be taken into consideration too.

Essentially, price does matter. Of course it matters and in many ways price matters more now because people buy more products online where research and comparisons can be made more easily and where deals can be offered that can’t be found elsewhere.

However, what is more essential to bear in mind is the product or service you are selling and the type of consumer you are selling it to. If you study these two areas well enough, you might find that people are more interested in the quality of your product than they are in how much it costs and you can then focus your advertising campaigns accordingly.