Completing the Sale - Are Your Products Priced Too High

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To determine whether or not your items are priced too high, do the same thing your potential customers are doing- search the web and compare costs. According to a 2006 Yahoo!/OMD study that polled more than 4,500 online families, two thirds (66 percent) use the Internet to research products and 64 percent use a search engine every day.

Take a product you sell, perhaps one you'd like to sell more of, and compare its cost against others. An exact search with price or compare prices after the product name may help to pull up the best results (example: [tickle me Elmo] compare prices). It may take awhile to sort out all of the results, depending on the items you sell and how saturated the market is, but it will give you some much needed insight into your business and what you are up against.

Here are a few ways to differentiate your products from the competition in order to convince the customer to buy from your site.

1. Lower Your Costs.

Find the lowest price for the item you sell and ask yourself if your cost could be lower. If so, your item could quickly become the lowest price on the web! The lowered cost should help increase purchases made at your site, making up the end difference for the price cut offered.

2. Guarantee a Price Match.

Assure the customer that you will match any price and that you will not be undersold. Chances are the competition is still gaining a profit at their cost, so you should be able to afford the price match. You've conquered half of the battle in getting the customer to visit your site. Now that they are there, entice them to follow through with a purchase.

3. Offer Free Shipping.

If your item costs more than the competition, offer an incentive to your customers. Free shipping is always an added bonus. Those two words can make a huge difference in whether or not you make the sale. If your product costs more than the competitor s, free shipping may give your product the lowest cost at checkout.

A lost sale often results from a customer not being convinced that the product is worth the cost. Convince the customer that your products are worth it and why they should buy from you, rather than your competitor. If you can't afford to make any price changes, don't worry. Cost is not the only factor that influences purchases. Nevertheless, a lower cost or similar incentive may give you just the edge you need to rise above the competition!

Stacie completed the Texas Creative program, receiving a degree in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin and is now employed with Volusion, Inc. Volusion.com.

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