Anthony Sanchez, Chief Marketing Officer | Infinite Buyer | www.infinitebuyer.com

The National Retail Federation (NRF) reports that as much as 57% of holiday

shoppers started making holiday purchases in early November. (NRF)

Thanksgiving Day sales are expected to rise by 18.8 percent up to $3.8 billion in

sales. (Twice.com)

Some retailers began their “pre-Black Friday” sales weeks early, and some will

continue with Black Friday weekend, Cyber Monday, and beyond. Why do

retailers want to discount their goods for so long?

Price reduction is really the only tool retailers have to accelerate revenue. Even if

it is at the expense of margin or profit, many retailers would rather make $10

profit per item than $40 per item if they think they can sell more items.

The option to make a guaranteed smaller profit over a larger, more unpredictable

profit makes sense. However, retailers really have no other choice right now than

to place an item on sale for everyone at the same time with the same discount.

What if we created a new model that can accommodate unique pricing per

individual?

BLACK FRIDAY CREEP IN 2015 IS

PROBABLY THE WORST IT’S EVER BEEN.

57% OF HOLIDAY SHOPPERSSTARTED MAKING HOLIDAY PURCHASES IN EARLY NOVEMBER

Most consumers would be very happy about that. It would definitely save time, and

if the product is at the price they were willing to pay, then obviously that would be a

good deal for them. The shopper would buy the product, be satisfied with both the

experience and the price, and probably return for future purchases.

Why don’t online retailers do this? Isn’t it obvious? There is no way to have enough

information to know what everyone is willing to pay. And, even if you did know the

ideal price point, the seller would need to have different prices for different people.

Even if you could have a different price for each consumer, there’s no way to match

up what someone is willing to pay with the price a seller would offer them.

71% of shoppers believe they will get a better deal online

Research shows that 71% of shoppers believe they will get a better deal online

than in stores. (Selz.org) As an online shopper, what would it be like if the first

website you land on has the product you’re shopping for and is able to sell it to

you at exactly the price you want to pay – every time?

Fortunately, there is a model that solves this problem, but it requires retailers to

start thinking a little differently about how buying and selling happens. Think back

to the last time you bought a car or a house. With big-ticket items like cars and

houses, there is a “suggested retail price” or “sticker price,” right?

Does anyone ever pay that published price?No, not really.

What happens in a transaction for a house is the buyer researches the market,

learns about the house they want, takes the asking price into consideration, and

then decides what they are willing to offer the seller.

If the seller’s asking price is way too high, the buyer might not even make an offer,

and the seller would never know. If the buyer’s asking price is competitive, the

buyer and seller negotiate towards a mutually-beneficial purchase price and the

deal is complete.

The other benefit to retailers in this negotiated model is they can sell the exact

same car to two different people on the same day for two totally different prices.

When you don’t have to sell everything at a published fixed price, it frees you to

sell at every different price. This has many advantages to a seller.

You can potentially be selling some items to buyers at or above the retail price if

they highly value the item. For example, if a husband is in a hurry and needs an

item right away for his wife’s birthday, he may be willing to pay above a published

fixed price to ensure delivery before her birthday (and before he’s dead meat).

WHAT IF YOU COULD TAKE THAT SAME

THINKING AND APPLY IT TO ALL

ONLINE RETAIL SALES?

A 2013 study reported that mobile shopping cart abandonment rate soared as

high as 97 percent. (Radware) Before we just assume shopping cart abandonment

is a mobile device issue, desktop shopping cart abandonment rates also reported

to be between 70 and 75 percent. As an online seller, what if every website

customer converted to a sale because you were able to negotiate a mutually

agreed-upon price every time?

Now, this assumes every buyer is rational, and we can probably not count on that.

Some visitors would probably think they can buy a television for $2.00. Of course,

that is not a reasonable offer, and those kinds of buyers will not play well in this

model. In fact, they would probably be penalized or at least marked as irrational

buyers and eventually be weeded out of the community until they change

their behavior.

For the normal shoppers, removing the most difficult obstacle of too high a price

can dramatically reduce, maybe even eliminate, shopping cart abandonment. With

an individually negotiated price, both retailers and consumers can enjoy a

true win/win.

SHOPPING CART ABANDONMENT SOARED AS HIGH AS 97% IN 2013.

Losing Profits

Online retailers may not realize they are losing more than they have to by using the

existing published fixed price model. If the published fixed retail price of a digital

camera is $299, then everyone who is willing to pay $299, $309, and even $349 would

buy it. However, those who are willing to pay $249 would not buy it.

The problem with sales like Black Friday discounts is that they lower the retail

published fixed price of the camera for everyone to $249. This is why so many people

buy the camera, because at that price, those who are willing to pay $249 or more will

buy it.

Unfortunately for the seller, this also includes the people who would have paid $279, or even $309 or higher.

Published discounts mean the retailer just gave up margin he could have potentially

received from a buyer willing to pay $250 or above. With 64% of consumers waiting to

make a purchase until the item goes on sale, think of the lost or delayed revenue

during the waiting period.

With a new retail model, a custom price per transaction would allow everyone to

make the deal they want with vendors who offer a negotiable price. A seller that can

implement this type of pricing system might not reach 100 percent conversion, but

almost certainly this pricing option could increase their conversion above the

standard one or two percent conversion rates most retailers get.

If the seller is equipped to sell at individual custom prices per person, where each person paid only what they were willing to

pay, they might make a sale to more buyers.

You would think that a society that can send a man to the moon, split the atom, map

human DNA, and create the Internet would be capable of making such a change. We

believe it is possible, inevitable, and we would like to tell you, as an online retailer,

more about how to take advantage of this coming retail revolution.

Learn More at http://www.InfiniteSeller.com