For most people, price matters. A great bargain can entice you to make an unplanned purchase. Likewise, a price tag higher than what you anticipated (or high shipping costs) can cause you to hesitate. Price matching is one way to reach price sensitive shoppers and increase sales.
Struggling with inflation and rising costs for regular household items, consumers are becoming increasingly price aware and sensitive. Implementing a price matching program in your store can help ensure shoppers trust that they will always get the best price from your store.
Store benefits of price matching
Gain customers
Price sensitive shoppers might want to support a local, on-campus business, but saving money could also trump that desire. Therefore, giving customers the option to submit a price match request to your store for the exact same item sold elsewhere for a lower cost could help you win additional business. Price matching is a good tool for helping your store win back market share and encourage repeat customers.
It's a useful marketing strategy
A price matching program in your store doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a lot of price matching requests. In fact, requests could actually be few and far between. However, just knowing that the store offers price matching ensures customers that your store supports them and puts their best interest over profit margins. Educating your campus community about your store’s price matching program can help you bring more shoppers through your doors or to your website, and it could also encourage faculty members to recommend students purchase their books through the campus store.
Creating a price matching program in your store
Before you implement a price matching program in your store, consider the type of program you would like to create. Would you prefer a more traditional program where shoppers show you the lower price from another retailer before they make their purchase? Or, one of the newer approaches to price matching (made popular by Target), allows customers to request a price match at checkout or submit a price match request for a qualifying item bought within the last 14 days, meaning customers can get a price match on an item they already purchased if they immediately find a lower price elsewhere.
Other things to consider are:
- What other companies or businesses will your store price match and which will be excluded?
- Who in the store will review price matching requests?
- How will you market the program to your campus community?
Does your store currently offer price matching? What strategies have worked best? Let us know in the comments below.
