Personalizing Prices

What if customer relations with the store meant more when it came to how much people paid?

When you shop at a supermarket, you tend to think of the shelf price as the be all and end all. But what if it wasn’t? What if customer relations with the store meant more when it came to how much people paid?

What if there could be special custom deals arranged to not only reward the customer but drive trips and basket size?  At The Lempert Report, we think this model could become the way of the future.

Here’s why we think it would work:

•It makes people feel special and appreciated - the store is willing to give back some of the value it accrues from the household’s dollar-spend there.

•The high frequency of tailored offers reinforces the routine of shopping in a particular store. 

•Retailers with superior analytics expertise can be more targeted, satisfying and profitable.

•Personalized pricing can grow sales and loyalty for stores.  .

For retailers the lack of pricing transparency is good and bad. While making it harder for competitors to outwit them, there’s the possibility that shoppers who hear about great prices but don’t qualify for them, may resent the store.

But such issues would no doubt be resolved as retailers refine their personalized pricing strategies. Retailers will become adept at managing thousands of relationships per store, including minimizing shopper pushback on deals they don’t get, and teaching shoppers what they need to do to earn the sharpest deals on items they want to take home. In the meantime, people will know that the store knows them and is investing in them.