Price Matching - Good or Bad?

lonewolf on 15/09/2016 - 09:36

Hello OZbargainers,

I had a query, for a long time i have always felt comfortable price matching until on some of the deals here people did hightlight the fact that by price matching we actually end up hurting the store that provided the better discounted price in the first place by using that to go to another (usually larger and more convenient) store to get the price matched and hence purchase from the second store.

I can definitely understand its benefits when it comes to the original store being far away or very difficult or small or untrustworthy but lets say its just slighly less convenient or does not take credit cards while the second larger store does. IS it still worth doing the pricematch or do people tend to support the original store for having offered the discounted price in the first place? I am of 2 minds of this right now and i have a decision to make based on it.

General Discussion

Comments

  • 0burntrice0 on 15/09/2016 - 09:43

    It also depends on what you are buying and where the matching is coming from and the shop you are going to.

    I too would like to know what others think too.

  • SnoozeAndLose on 15/09/2016 - 09:48

    As a Ozbargainer getting the stuff that I want with the lowest possible price and highest available reward(from credit card).

    I would like to support the original store if they are available closer than the large store(because I can save time and petrol).

    All in all, the best value of an item is my biggest concern

  • lonewolf on 15/09/2016 - 10:05

    The other thing i was told is possibly we end up hurting the provider of the original discounted price and they may end up going down due to the larger stores always price matching them and hence they get no business.

    • SnoozeAndLose on 15/09/2016 - 10:10

      Isn't this called competition?

      The big store like Bunnings like to push rivals out of the market?

      • lonewolf on 15/09/2016 - 10:15

        But thats what i mean, does that mean then the big stores eventually beat out the small stores by price matching them till they are no longer around and once they are gone then no more discounted prices to pricematch against anyway so the big stores then can keep having whatever prices they want.

        • SnoozeAndLose on 15/09/2016 - 10:29

          But they do price match with large store as well and there are so may small store in Australia to price match with, also their will be new one start up.

  • cypher67 on 15/09/2016 - 10:56

    Price matching hurts both. The store advertising the price would have arrange a bulk buy and they need to move the stock at the risk of being stuck with stock they cant move. The price matching store is then forced to sell at the bulk buy price when they didnt obtain them for the wholesale bulk price. However the price matching store would rather keep a solid customer base knowing they can always return to get the best price & hopefully sell other items whilst they are there. Shops need foot traffic and they cant afford people going into other stores at the risk of losing them as a return customer.

  • BigTed on 15/09/2016 - 11:12
    +4

    I would hardly bother for a price match but I probably would for a price beat

  • fruit on 15/09/2016 - 11:13

    Poor corporations.

  • inherentchoice on 15/09/2016 - 11:27

    It's called a free market. Small businesses fail and big businesses fail.

    Smaller and newer players need to be able to innovate in order to increase their market share.

    In any case I'm pretty sure only a small number of purchases are done as a price match/beat so it's probably barely a drop in the pond.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJr2RO7g7jI

  • nubzy on 15/09/2016 - 12:29

    I will do it if another store offers extra reward on top (e.g. bonus gift card) or can beat the price

  • ilikeradiohead on 15/09/2016 - 12:37
    +3

    Price matching/beating is actually an excuse for large/dominant retailers to have higher prices. Competition does not help businesses, only consumers.

    A large company like Bunnings has a price beat policy, which is designed to deter rivals from undercutting their prices. Bunnings, being the largest hardware store in the country, and also part of a larger company, has the financial resources to consistently undercut rivals on prices. In the short term they may make a loss on each item, but in the longer term they seek to ensure that their prices are not beaten. Competition and how companies work was one of the more interesting things I studied at uni.

    Is price matching good or bad? It's hard to say. I would say overall it is good for consumers, in a highly fragmented market, because it gets companies to be very vigilant on their prices, and consumers benefit. In markets with one dominant company (hardware may be an example), price matching may actually make consumers worse off as one company sets the prices for the entire market.

    As for whether I have prices matched/beaten? On occasion. I got a game from EB matched from Target once because I had a gift card, and I may have done it on a few other occasions although I can't really remember. In general I'll just go to the store with the lowest price.

    • johninmelb on 15/09/2016 - 15:02

      Research has shown that Bunnings don't have the lowest prices, they just use psychological tricks to make you think they do.

      I think you could look at Bunnings as "destination shopping", it's a fun place to go, have a sausage, and load up the trolley with "stuff". In many people's minds, I think price is a secondary consideration.

      If you were to go to your local Bunnings one Saturday to do a survey, how many customers do you think you would find that had checked all the prices of things they needed or wanted beforehand? Very few I suspect. Bunnings is convenient, they have (almost) everything, it's boy toy heaven. What's not to like??

      Only us Ozbargainers are going to do our homework before we set foot in the store, though I admit (at risk of losing my OzB licence) I don't. Bunnings is convenient for me. Trekking round other shops is not.

      Bunnings and other major retailers (Woolworths excepted) are not going broke. They know a certain percentage of people will pay full retail, and others will haggle. They make a value judgement on whether to make a sale, or lose a customer.

      A while back I posted about wanting a particular Samsonite suitcase. I really wanted to buy it at Myer because I had vouchers to use. RRP of the case was $329. Other stores and online sellers had it around $195-$198. I got it at Myer for $198 by price match. But an hour later, another customer could have walked in and paid $329 no questions asked.

      I don't price match that often, and mostly on expensive stuff.

      There is a cut off point where saving a few cents is not economic. I always remember my mother expecting my father to drive miles to another supermarket so she could save 5 cents on a kilo of flour or something like that. The extra petrol probably cost them 20 cents.

      And when does this become nickel and diming? I used to know a guy who got himself banned from almost every takeaway food place for about 10kms around his house. He was for ever trying to nickel and dime them for extra food etc. I refused to go and eat with him after the first couple of times. It was embarrassing.

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