The Steps Toward Omnichannel Pricing Success

The CMA’s year-long series on omnichannel best practices now turns its attention to pricing.

In “Omnichannel Pricing, Part One: Redefining the Price Experience,” omni Chris Perry of firstmovr walks brand and retail professionals through both the fundamentals and the nuances of key decisions on pricing in brick-and-mortar and e-commerce, including:

The dynamics and types of in-store and online pricing. For instore, these are traditional methods like price tags; for online pricing, factors like PDP list price, new member pricing, and subscription pricing are covered.
The vehicles to communicate online pricing, including search and filters, as well in-store standards like endcap signage.
The imperative for brands to design for a full-price experience, and for retailers to price both competitively and clearly.

In this preview, Perry introduces viewers to the idea of “total omnichannel price,” which is a function of four factors:

Actual Price (the selling price, including fees)
Perceived Value (the shopper’s perception of the value they are getting for that price)
Required Effort (the steps a shopper must take to lock in the price)
Experience Transparency (the overall feeling of consistency and trustworthiness of the pricing)

On experience transparency, Perry offers these words of caution to retailers and suppliers on delivering pricing consistency as much as possible:

“Where we can control it, where we can influence it, (consistency) is critical, because inconsistency is going to drive online and in-store cart abandonment,” Perry said. “People will not buy, they will leave. They might leave altogether and just say, ‘Hey, I didn't actually need that category; it was a nice-to-have, it was expendable consumption.’ It could be ‘I'm leaving you and I'm going to someone else, and if I go to someone else, I might buy a different brand as well.’ So brands and retailers have equal stake in ensuring consistency.”

It's all the more reason you can’t miss the full watch of “Omnichannel Pricing, Part One: Redefining the Price Experience,” available exclusively to members below.