Lessons in retailing

So Ralph needed new jeans, he went online to Penney's saw they were on sale, ordered three pair shipped to the store. In the past, shipping to the store had always been free and he just ordered as he had before.

When we stopped in to pick them up he noticed they charged him $9.20 to ship the jeans and when he inquired the woman told him they always charged shipping, which we knew for a fact was not true. After a couple more questions she said, well no, they don't always charge shipping, they often have free shipping, but its usually for a limited time, just not now. So he inquired about refunding the shipping since he'd never been charged before when shipping to the store, she told him no. Even if he returned the jeans he'd still be out the $9.20 for the shipping.

As she was speaking she went on to explain how Penney's works. The online, catalog and stores are all treated differently, even so far as different prices depending on which catalog you order from. Say the Fall or Spring book or any one of more than 30 "specialty" catalogs that they produce. The same merchandise could be priced differently online, different in any of the many catalogs or even different from store to store. Their pricing is not uniform based on even the region the stores are in. What?

Then she said the prices in the store are sometimes less than online or the catalog. A light bulb went off in Ralph's brain and he asked her to check and sure enough, the jeans were cheaper in the store than what he paid online. After much debate she said she could give him the store price (since we were actually standing in the store), and eventually said she'd also throw in the shipping cost to make him happy. It amounted to over $33. in credits on an $81. purchase. Wow.

As we were leaving the store I said you have to really wonder about a retailer who maintains all these separate price schemes and what the upkeep on that must be. Ralph said its really marketing genius! If he wouldn't have noticed the difference in price he never would have questioned it and would have paid the extra $33 and been none the wiser. Guess that's how they can afford it, they rely on people assuming that their prices are the same throughout the system and the off-again on-again shipping charges all keep people unaware and ultimately paying more.

It was an education for us, and Ralph will certainly keep a sharper eye out, particularly purchasing online, but Ralph's already said he won't be shopping there anymore because of it all. He wants to know why stores just can't charge a fair price for what they have without a lot of flim flam. Good question!!