The choice of the blog on which I will comment on, was pretty straightforward. My attention was captured by the blog “The Anchoring Principle” edited on “Influential Marketing blog” on Friday, November 25.
The “Anchoring Principle” refers to the practice of using one high priced product (an anchor), to make everything else seem cheaper by comparison.
This interesting principle did not sound new to me. Indeed, just a few time ago, I read a book entitled “Influence” written by Robert Cialdini, which explains this concept in a more deeply way.Cialdini refers to this concept as the “contrast principle”.
To better understand this principle, a very easy example could be useful: if we lift a light object first and then a heavy object, we will estimate the second object to be heavier than if we had lifted it without first lifting the light one.
In the same way, people tend to have an “anchor” price for their buying experience and judge the products in relation to that anchor. If the “anchor” price is high, they are more willing to pay an higher price and vice-versa.
Thus, under a marketer point of view, it is much more convenient in a shop to keep a few very high priced items, in order to entice customers to buy the apparently “cheap” ones .
Another way to use this principle in a profitable way for salespeople is to present the expensive item first, if a customer asks for two or more products. Indeed, presenting the expensive item first and following it with the unexpensive one will make the second product seem cheaper than what it actually is.
The great advantage of this principle is not only that it works, but also that it is easy to apply and it is pretty undetectable. Marketers are continously seeking for these weapons of influence and unfortunately customers rarely relize they are deeply influenced by these techniques.