Retailers Grasp Consumers' "Regret" Psychology

Consumer psychology is the most important part of retailing. Retailers can reasonably arrange commodity categories and give reasonable pricing strategies to commodities by grasping consumers' consumption psychology.

As a consumer, how can you consume: is it a retail store that occasionally discounts goods with relatively high prices, or a retail store that often sets relatively low prices?

According to a new study by a management professor at Texas University of Science and Technology, although the relatively low price may sound better on paper, the feasibility of occasional discounts on the relatively high price in the actual operation of the retail industry greatly exceeds the feasibility of maintaining the relatively low price: it not only meets the consumer psychology, but also produces higher profits.

Reason: Everything catches the "regret" psychology of consumers

Karen Zheng, a management professor at MIT who also participated in the research, said that in this regard, consumers will have two kinds of regrets about not buying: one is when you buy a dress, and later find that the dress is on sale.

Another kind of regret is: "The consumer didn't buy it at that time, but found this model when he bought it later clothes It has been sold out, so retailers should grasp the psychology of letting consumers get the clothes at the first time, and let consumers feel that the clothes will sell quickly and sell well. "

Research shows that, generally, this fear of short selling will be so strong that consumers will pay the full price to buy the goods they like at the first sight, and the profits of stores will increase by 10%.

Experts also said that, of course, this strategy of maintaining relatively high prices is very significant for retailers of certain commodity categories. For clothes like ordinary T-Shirts, consumers are more determined to wait for the discount period of clothes.

brand fashion On the other hand, it is more suitable to grasp consumers' fear of "future regret". Experts believe that: "For fashion trend goods, fashion consumers prefer to buy the goods at the beginning of the consumption season to gain more time to wear these fashionable clothes."

In fact, some brands are good at letting consumers pay full price to buy goods.

Daniel Doiron, a senior retail observer of Harvard Business Magazine, said, "The most typical brand is Zara.".

"Magic brand" Zara A big factor in its success is its supply chain. Doiron said that a strong supply chain allows brand manufacturers to produce fewer clothes. The fast inventory turnover rate makes the clothing style change rapidly.

"Scarcity is a powerful tool for Zara to influence consumer behavior," he said. "There are always new types of clothes, and clothes are never too full. For this reason, Zara has successfully attracted fashion lovers to buy goods at full price; Consumers are very nervous that the goods they like will be sold short immediately, so they can't wait for the discount period of clothes. In fact, the retailer also offers much less discounts than its competitors. "

"They only reduced the price of clothes by 15%," said Doiron. "This is very rare in this industry."

Zara's pricing strategy has been very effective in recent years. According to the annual report of its parent company Inditex, the brand's profit from sales has kept growing. If you, as a consumer, like to keep the most fashionable sense, you will naturally have several smart fashion brands in your mind, and these fashion brands are very difficult to resist waiting for the discount period.

However, here is a strategy that can save you from regret as a consumer, that is, don't waste unnecessary money on goods you don't need. When consumers decide to buy a favorite dress, they must look at the price tag.

A recent study shows that when consumers first focus on the commodity itself, followed by the price, they can focus more on their liking for the commodity, and when they first see the price, they can observe the value of the commodity more carefully. Uma Karmarkar, professor of marketing at Harvard Business School, pointed out in the same study. "Seeing the price first will make consumers more nervous about the value of this purchase. If consumers are very interested in the cost performance ratio, they may realize whether this product is really useful."

Another key point is that when consumers have hesitated about whether they need to buy this product, price tags encourage consumers to think about practicality. Therefore, when consumers have long been attracted to a hat or skirt, this trick is not so useful.

This research is obviously good for retailers, but not so good for consumers' wallets.