Pet Peeve: Unclear Pricing

[Dave Gray]

The worst offender of this is Michael's, an arts and crafts store.

I am the type of guy who just wants to know the price of something and then make a choice about whether or not I want it.  ...not at Michael's.  Everything is based around coupons and sales, to the point when nothing just costs what it costs.  One item is 30% off of the "regular price", but also, the prices marked are all marked down.  Every shelf is a percentage off the price listed.  So, everything in the store is always on sale with advertised prices on the shelves and little cheat sheets about how much you need to deduct.  Everything is buy this and get a 2nd of this other thing for 50% off.  But with exclusions and clearance and everything else.

It's all flim-flam and it's hard to keep track of what you're buying or spending.  It all seems focused on how much you're "saving".

I don't know if this is correlative, but the types of stores that do this seem to cater more to women.  HomeGoods, I believe, is sometimes like this.  ...as well as Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

[Phishfan]

I have never been to any these stores but it makes sense to me that happens in stores whose main clientele is women and a certain type of women at that. I always remember my mom telling me about shopping with my grandmother. She wanted to pick something up for me and my mom kept telling her it wasn't my style and I wouldn't wear it but my grandmother couldn't comprehend and just kept saying that it was on sale.

[Spider-Dan]

Famously, JCPenney tried to eliminate this sort of perpetual "Huge Sale!" pricing and just mark their goods with accurate, everyday lower prices.
This was an enormous flop and customers hated it.  They quickly returned to the old, deceptive model.

Shoppers want to feel like they are getting an amazing deal due to their smart purchasing decisions.

[masterfins]

I think JC Penny's having sales is different than the crap places like Michael's does.  For the record I like JC Penny's, but I only buy stuff when I can get a deal.

The gimmick I HATE is what Kohl's does.  You spend so much money, I think it's every $50 bucks, and you get a coupon for "Kohl's Cash" - which means you have to come back to the store the following week to redeem the $10 off coupon. Just give me the $10 off NOW!  I realize they are trying to get you to come back and spend money on something the following week that you probably don't need.  I'm not gonna waste $5 in gas and an hour of my time to go redeem a $10 or $20 coupon; I usually just give it to someone in the parking lot.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Famously, JCPenney tried to eliminate this sort of perpetual "Huge Sale!" pricing and just mark their goods with accurate, everyday lower prices.
This was an enormous flop and customers hated it.  They quickly returned to the old, deceptive model.

Shoppers want to feel like they are getting an amazing deal due to their smart purchasing decisions.

A store can be successful with a straightforward pricing model....Cisco Aldis etc.  But switching from a sale model to straightforward will always be a disaster. 

However more people claim they want straightforward pricing than actually do...see Saturn.