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The Best Price

December 5, 2010 by Dale Furtwengler — President, Furtwengler & Associates, P.C.

Do you have the best price?

Are you sure?

I recently saw an ad that said "We offer the best...at the best price." What does that mean?  What is the best price? Did you mentally equate "best price" with "lowest price?"  This lack of clarity can create customer disappointment and a lot of ill will.  Let's see how.

"Best" is a subjective term. It has different meanings for different people. Let's look at clothing retailers and how each of their buyers might define the word best.

If you're a Saks or Nordstrom buyer, best means not only very high quality merchandise, but also great ambiance and exceptional service.  The best price for these buyers is the one that reflects that value - a price significantly higher than they'd find at other stores.

To a Macy's buyer, best means high quality with strong brand recognition, but they may view the ambiance and additional service of Saks and Nordstrom as impractical.  The best price in their minds is the one that bespeaks the quality of the merchandise and brand logo, but discounts heavily the ambiance and service aspects of Saks and Nordstrom.

JCPenney's buyers impression of best is dependable quality and reasonably fashionable clothing.  They may view the higher levels of quality, ambiance and service at Macy's, Nordstrom and Saks as ostentatious.  The best price for JCPenney buyers is one that's significantly less than Macy's, yet coincides nicely with the dependable quality and a less recognizable brand like St. John's Bay.
 
Target buyers' definition of best might include dependable quality and a good look. It does not mean paying extra to get a Tommy Hilfiger, Polo or even a St. John's Bay logo on the garment.  The best price for a target buyer is a step down from the JCPenney's price.  It reflects affordable quality.

Walmart buyers define best price as the lowest price.  The price is the overriding consideration in their buying decision.

With all of these definitions of best, let's look at how the marketing message at the beginning of this article creates expectations.

A Saks or Nordstrom buyer expects the price to be very high to reflect the levels of quality, ambiance and service they expect. If the ad intended "best" to mean "lowest price", you've lost the sale. The same is probably true of the Macy's buyer. To these buyers, best price means one that reflects the value and they expect high value.

A JCPenney's and Target's buyer would feel the same way if the garment they were considering carried a Walmart price. While they may view Saks, Nordstrom and Macy's prices as wasteful, they certainly don't to get the feeling that there's something inferior about what they're buying.  A sense they get when something is priced below what they expect the price to be for the quality they desire.

It's counter-intuitive, but the language you use in your marketing message must clearly convey the value you provide. Vague terms like ‘best' leave too much to interpretation. When you leave messages subject to interpretation, the way the message is interpreted will almost certainly be different than what you intended.

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