COVID-19 has added value to e-commerce, making a slightly higher price worth every penny for many shoppers
Not so long ago, the idea of paying more to buy an item online versus in a store would make shoppers feel like they were being duped. However, in a coronavirus-infected world, a small premium is totally acceptable, experts say.
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Gretchen Jezerc, senior vice president of marketing at First Insight, a retail planning platform that uses data to help clients make decisions about things like pricing, says research is the best way to determine how to proceed.
COVID-19, the jobless situation, racial unrest and the myriad other current events consumers are now dealing with have shifted “consumer value equations.”
“Sales history data are not predictive of what the future is going to hold,” Jezerc said. “Some of the tools we had in the past for willingness to pay and how to set pricing have gone out the window.”
So perhaps customers will be OK with a pricing difference under the right circumstances. But if a customer feels cheated by that tactic, then a retailer may find itself facing a backlash.
on MarketWatch.com
