It’s one Los Angeles boutique owner’s answer to the pay-what-you-wish pricing scheme: only open your store to customers you want to let in — and set prices on the spot by sizing customers up. The strategy, she says, has helped her store stay open when other shops around hers are struggling. (HT: Marginal Revolution) [%comments]
Pay When They Let You
TAGS: pay as you wish
and 
. You can also watch it on 
If this is successful business model, then it should be that discrimination laws and lawsuits should be disbanded, not the other way around.
I certainly am not a boutique-anything shopper though, so whatev
It seems like this only would work at the type of store where items are priced based on how cool they are. She probably has several different ways of aquiring things, all with drastically different costs associated. It seems that all recieve the same hefty markup, though. Does the exclusiveness of the store add value to the product?
Very similar to a shop I went into Mauritius. They had prices on all stock that where way over price. The frist thing was a 50% discount from that over the top price.(signs on main road, all over shop)
When you come in they are ment to judge if your EURO, USD or ZAR payments countires. We where from Australia so we would always get a diffrent price discount on top of the 50% discount price. Sometimes my mum and dad would ask for a price and get a diffrent discount from me on the same suit. We did never end up buying anything because of trust issues.
Second example of this Qantas airlines online booking system. It blatenly changes the price of your return airfare if you select another date that is more expensive. Looking to extract all the monopoly pricing . A $600 ticket can go as high as $1700 just becuase you flight out is $1700. An extra $1100, lucky they are not a monopoly on these routes and you can buy with other companies. But if anything I don’t see it bringing customers.
I think this idea is that the consumer will not be able to understand what is going on is floored. If I was ever to go in the store I would make sure I tried my best to send the signal that I didn’t want to spend much.
My son tells me there’s a pay what you like for beer bar in Vienna… seems to work.
Also, some UK second hand book store owners are notorious for never opening – they apparently just can’t stand to see the books leave the store.
This falls more into the weird hobby category than the business category. I’d be amazed if the place makes any money, but running it in this fashion probably isn’t any more expensive than a country club membership or a boat, and there’s always the off chance that you’ll make some money selling some of your junk.
I read about a restaurant somewhere in the U.S. that does something like this, but with a different approach. Without warning, they go to a pay-what-you=want model for a short period — maybe an hour. But they do accept all comers, and they will settle for as little as, if I remember correctly, one cent. It’s gimmicky, but apparently it works in that context.
Also, some musicians are doing this with certain of their songs online. Some of those folks seem to do okay, if not in terms of return on direct investment, for the publicity.
My former business partner used to sell hot dogs at festival booths. He said there was another vendor (selling gyros, I think) who had a secret code for his employees. Whenever the line got long, he’d say something like, “fill the napkin holders,” and the guy on the cash register would know to raise the price! So, you might pay $5 for the same thing the guy in front of you just paid $4. (I assume either the customers never knew the price was different or they weren’t willing to walk away after waiting in a long line.) When the line went back down, the price would go back down as well.
Looks like she captured the market of stupid people.