Starbucks' marketing promotion secrets are hidden here!

Yesterday, I went to Starbucks to buy coffee. While waiting to order, I suddenly discovered that Starbucks actually sold mineral water, and it was the "aristocrat among waters" Evian water, priced at 22 yuan.

Does anyone really buy mineral water at Starbucks? I was a little confused and couldn't help but ask the Starbucks employee. The other party replied that basically no one bought it.

"Then why has it been left here for so long without anyone buying it?"

I continued to ask.

"I don't know either. I just let it go because the company asked me to."

The other party motioned for me to order.

Although the employees said so, we, who have been influenced by operational routines for a long time, still feel that things are definitely not that simple. So why exactly does Starbucks put Evian water on the counter?

Why does Starbucks sell Evian water?

First of all, we ruled out the idea that Starbucks was the sales channel for Evian water, after all, it simply couldn’t be sold.

Secondly, we speculate that Evian water uses Starbucks as a promotion channel. Although Evian water sells for 22 yuan a bottle in Starbucks, if you buy a whole box on JD.com, the average price is less than 5 yuan a bottle, which is a price that the "middle class" can barely afford.

The price of Evian water in Starbucks may give people a "high-end" impression, so that users will buy Evian water when they need to "show off" in the future.

Then again, people who truly treat Evian water as an ordinary consumer product may prefer to drink hand-brewed coffee or freshly ground coffee, and the degree of user overlap between the two types of products is still uncertain.

Finally, we speculate that Starbucks actually has "ulterior motives" for placing high-priced Evian water on the counter. Why do we say that?

The price of a medium cup of Starbucks coffee basically does not exceed 30 yuan, and a venti cup basically does not exceed 40 yuan. When users find out that a bottle of mineral water costs 22 yuan, they will feel that coffee is not that expensive in comparison.

There is a theory behind this phenomenon, called "price anchor". Simply put, by using the high price of a cannon fodder product (the anchor is actually the cannon fodder), consumers can perceive the high cost-effectiveness of the product they actually want to buy.

This theory was first proposed in 1974 by Twinsky and Kalman in their classic "Wheel of Fortune" experiment.

In this experiment, participants were divided into two groups and asked to answer what percentage of African countries are in the United Nations. One group received a number from a lucky wheel and then answered the question, while the other group answered directly.

Although the value spun out by the lucky wheel has nothing to do with the proportion of African countries, when the participants spin to a higher value, the answer value given will also be larger; when it spins to a lower value, the answer value given will also be smaller.

In other words, the value given by the lucky wheel had an impact on the answers of the participants.

The role of price anchor points for consumers is equivalent to a "lucky number" and will affect users' perception of prices. Because for most commodities, consumers do not know their reasonable prices and can only judge the prices based on their own perception.

What are some other classic examples of price anchors?

In fact, most businesses, except Starbucks, use price anchors to "trick" customers. You think you are getting a bargain, but in fact you are playing into the merchants' hands.

1) Price reference

When customers do not have a clear sense of the value of a product, merchants will use price references to make it concrete and tangible. A classic example is Luo Yonghao’s “One Dollar Series” posters.

Although 1 yuan is not a lot of money, not everyone is willing to pay to attend 8 English training classes taught by Lao Luo.

But if I tell you that one dollar may not even be enough to buy a bottle of Coke or an egg, but can allow you to attend eight classes, would you go?

This set of posters very cleverly compares the value of 1 dollar with trivial daily necessities such as corn, cola, eggs, and Band-Aids. These items are the price anchor points in the customers' minds. Compared with them, the sense of value of listening to 8 classes is instantly enhanced.

2) Product discounts

Uniqlo has a concept: initial listing price, which is the original price of a product when it first goes on sale.

When there is a discount or limited-time offer, the initial listing price will be clearly marked next to the discounted price.

Down jackets that originally started at 599 yuan can now be purchased for only 199 yuan. Here 599 is the anchor point. With it as a reference, customers will accept the price of 199 yuan without hesitation.

Of course, some "unscrupulous merchants" take advantage of this and first mark the goods with expensive prices, and then declare a 10% discount on the sale. Although the final transaction price is not low in absolute terms, customers are still willing to pay because of the original price.

3) Price list in descending order

I don't know if you have noticed that the prices on the menus of bars or restaurants are often arranged in descending order.

Put the most expensive one in front and this price becomes a starting reference.

When customers browse the price list from top to bottom, as the prices become cheaper and cheaper, they will feel that they have gained money.

Although customers know that the quality of goods will decrease as prices drop during this process, due to loss aversion, the happiness brought by paying less is far greater than getting a little more quality.

Therefore, in order to balance price and quality, most customers may choose the second or third most expensive product. In fact, this is an irrational choice made after being "scared" by the highest price.

Especially for goods or services such as alcohol, food, beauty and hairdressing, it is difficult for customers to judge whether the price is reasonable, and they can easily fall into the price context set by the merchant.

4) Cannon fodder price

The price of cannon fodder can be divided into two types: one is the "sky-high price" which is far different from other prices, and the other is the "uneconomical" low price which is "not cost-effective at first glance".

Their existence is not to sell the product itself, but to "dissuade" users from buying the product that the merchant is more willing to sell.

Huawei has a star mobile phone that is called the "treasure of the store" by its employees: the Mate 20 RS Porsche Design mobile phone, with a minimum selling price of RMB 12,999.

The product details page used gorgeous copywriting to package it in a high-end way, but it did not appear on the official website homepage.

Not only that, its purchase page also provides links to three recommended mobile phones, priced at 6,799 yuan, 4,999 yuan and 3,999 yuan respectively, while the recommended products for other models of mobile phones are all mobile phone accessories.

In this example, the Porsche model phone is a cannon fodder product, whose main purpose is to raise the price anchor in the minds of users, thereby selling more models priced at 6,799 yuan or below.

Correspondingly, ineffective low prices will also induce users to pay more money. For example, skin care products have different specifications for the same product, but the prices are very similar:

The 45ml bottle of the Little Brown Bottle Essence is priced at 1,100 yuan, and the 65ml bottle of the Little Brown Bottle Essence is priced at 1,360 yuan. I casually flipped through the review section and found that most people bought the more expensive one.

The 1,100 yuan acts as cannon fodder here, raising the price anchor point in the users' minds. It obviously makes customers spend more money, but customers feel that they are getting a bargain.

How to use price anchors correctly?

Consumers always hope to get a bargain from merchants, but if merchants really let users get a bargain, then merchants are very likely to lose money (or at least earn less), so how can users be satisfied?

In fact, businesses don’t have to really let users get an advantage, they just need to let users “feel” that they are getting an advantage. There are two principles to follow when using price anchors:

The first principle is to avoid extremes. Simply put, it means setting two relatively extreme prices (too high, too low) to "induce" users to go in the direction you want.

For example, the Huawei Mate 20 RS Porsche Design mobile phone mentioned above, as a commemorative edition product, its purpose is not to sell this product well, but on the contrary to make this product "extremely" high-priced, making other products look more affordable.

The second principle is trade-offs. Simply put, users usually lack value judgment on something, so they will look for a reference to weigh and compare to prove that their choice is correct.

Starbucks uses the principle of "trade-off" when selling Evian mineral water in its stores. Users cannot intuitively feel the cost of Starbucks coffee. "Expensive" or "not expensive" is basically based on a feeling.

With Evian mineral water as a reference, users will naturally think that if a bottle of water can be sold for 22 yuan, then coffee sold for more than 30 yuan is not expensive. As for why choose Evian water? That’s another question. Imagine selling Nongfu Spring for 22 yuan, it would probably be criticized by users.

In addition, Luo Yonghao’s English class posters, discounts on goods in daily life, ascending and descending order on the menu, etc., are actually products that find an "anchor" price point to stimulate users to make quick purchasing decisions.

Summarize

Price anchors are not uncommon in daily life. Merchants can increase sales and obtain better benefits by making good use of price anchor pricing strategies.

Of course, after understanding the price anchor point, users can also clearly distinguish whether a product is truly worth the money or just "feels" like it is worth the money.

No matter what day it comes, businesses will not be stupid enough to let users take advantage of them for nothing.

Author: Taolu Editorial Department, authorized to publish by Qinggua Media .

Source: Operation Research Society (ID: U_quan)