Why do companies sell with 9's (ie, £699 instead of £700)

dwarfer

Hi, I've had a lot of trouble in forums when I keep brgging on about people buying from companies that purpusly cloud your judgement by making their products appear cheap to profit more by fooling you.


Curries, for example, sell TVs and other equipment for £1999.99, jet2.com do it too, "fly to London for only £29.99" and car companies "£6995". It appears to be a company policy as to how greedy they are, as Seat, for example, (or is it Suzuki) sell with complete nines (ie, 6999) and (39.9% APR) etc

Since figuring all this out about companies I've been upset and feel they're making more profits by fooling us (can you think of another reason they sell with nines?)

Nearly 100% of the public I've challanged on this subject they always think im crazy and dont know what Im talking about, but they haven't given me a straight answer to why they don't 'see' it or care, my theory is: "why buy from companies that dont care for you!"

Can someone please enlighten me as to the reason companies sell with nines, if not to impare our judgement? Do they have to do it for government selling guidelines or something?

Thanks

DKLS

Its a marketing pure and simple, the way our brains work, £699 is a more attractive price point than £700.

TBH Its not something I would get worked up about, lifes too short.

Andy_L

and when you buy something for cash it obliges the staff to ring it up on the till, making it harder for them to pocket the money

lesley1960

Since figuring all this out about companies I've been upset and feel they're making more profits by fooling us (can you think of another reason they sell with nines?)

Wouldnt they make more profit by rounding it up to the nearest £ lol

.........and who's fooled?

geordie_joe

lesley1960 wrote: »

Since figuring all this out about companies I've been upset and feel they're making more profits by fooling us (can you think of another reason they sell with nines?)

Wouldnt they make more profit by rounding it up to the nearest £ lol

.........and who's fooled?

As Andy L says, it's to force the assistant to open the till to give you change. This way it ensures the sale is recorded and the assistant can't pocket the money.

Watch out when you are in a busy shop and buy something for £9.99 and hand over a tenner. If the assistant just happens to have a penny next to the till and gives you that as change, the chances are he/she is trying to pocket the tenner. Which they can do if you don't demand a receipt.

Woby_Tide

wasn't dwarfer in that film "Falling Down"?

(he's probably busy firebombing the corner shop selling penny chews for 2p)

LuciferTDark

It's dishonest marketing pure & simple, the worst thing of it though is most people are fooled by it & think they're getting a bargain when they're not.

Watch the furniture ads on tv closely & you'll see what I mean, they'll use phrases like "now under £700" on an item that's £699, it's a con that works & is legal.

shelovestobuystuff

Having something priced at £x.99 is just pure retail psychology.
Makes the buyer feel they are getting a better deal.They are getting change given back to them,even though its just 1p,its the process that matters.They can have advertising slogans like "Under £10","brand new computer for under £400","everything under £1",all these phrases grab most people.
With more sales being on the internet they dont need to bother so much with this now. A company that sells purely on the web is much more likely to have the prices at whole pounds than a company that still has high street stores.

Sammz

People are fooled?!

And people still "ring up" stuff on a till? Even my tiny corner shop has a scanner these days.

shelovestobuystuff

Its just marketing.

dwarfer

lesley1960 wrote: »

Wouldnt they make more profit by rounding it up to the nearest £ lol

No, and this is what I'm getting at, they make more profits by making it look cheaper:

£699 looks a dam sight less than £700, (you see the 6 first in the hundreds)

if it was £700 people would think twice before buying, but companies dont want you to think! they just want your cash because they know if you saw the 'actual' figure (£700) then around 10% of people won't buy it (for example). its impairing your judgement just so they make that little extra for themselvs, proof that companies dont really care about your finances, to make it look a hundred quid cheaper (psylogically) they take a penny off to make it £699.99 (or a quid off to make it £699)

In short more people buy their products when it appears lower than it is.

Say a sofa was £700 at "Preston-SofaStore", but next door theres the exact same sofa for £699 which one would you buy? -personally I would buy the sofa from the company that sells it for £700, my contribution to prevent companies trying to fool us

(again, I say FOOL US because thats exactly what they're doing) by making it look cheaper, impulse buyers dont see the extra quid £700 in £699. - its causing health issues, everytime i see a company doing this (and thats EVERY company (apart from most of asda's items so far) i get very angry