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Fair enough and consumers are rewarded for carefully researched shopping. However, many of the days we compared were specifically billed as major "sale" days an

Fair enough and consumers are rewarded for carefully researched shopping. However, many of the days we compared were specifically billed as major "sale" days and so I, at least, found the price inflation disconcerting.

fleitz 11y ago
Different stores offer different terms and have different costs... I shop at lots of stores I know charge more because they have better service. I love the shopping experience when I don't have to wait in line because they have enough cashiers and don't have people haggling over $5 at the cashier, if you want their prices go to their store...
- unsettledtck 11y ago
  This is true and I definitely love the convenience of Amazon (who was the most guilty of higher prices, by the way). Frankly, it was Sam's Club that really surprised me since I always assumed that they offered everything at a lower price as a perk built in for membership.
  - dragonwriter 11y ago
    > Frankly, it was Sam's Club that really surprised me since I always assumed that they offered everything at a lower price as a perk built in for membership. As a general rule, anytime an institution [0] has an established reputation for lower prices such that people assume their prices are lower without doing comparisons, this becomes a license to charge higher prices. [0] this is true beyond just institutions, too; "economy" packs of products frequently sell for higher per-unit costs than packs with fewer units per pack, because enough people assume that the cost is lower and don't do the math.
    - unsettledtck 11y ago
      Intriguing! That makes complete and utter sense, which is part of the reason why we included Sam's Club in this scraping project. Wasn't actually aware of the higher per-unit costs.
    - mschuster91 11y ago
      > [0] this is true beyond just institutions, too; "economy" packs of products frequently sell for higher per-unit costs than packs with fewer units per pack, because enough people assume that the cost is lower and don't do the math. Assuming the "economy" pack is the only offer you visit a distinct store for and the good is perishable (so that stockpiling doesn't work), then it might be cheaper if you factor in the time you need to reach said store, shop there and get back home into the "cost". The less often you have to go shopping, the more time you save. That is especially true with cat foods when your cat is a picky eater and only eats certain food from a certain place which is most unfortunately at the other end of the city...
      - dragonwriter 11y ago
        > Assuming the "economy" pack is the only offer you visit a distinct store for and the good is perishable (so that stockpiling doesn't work), then it might be cheaper if you factor in the time you need to reach said store, shop there and get back home into the "cost". I'm actually referring to same-store, same-time prices when neither the economy nor the smaller pack is specially discounted, so the travel, etc., cost is the same. Stockpiling/perishability doesn't seem relevant in any way that favors economy packs -- an economy pack is either a larger single sealed pack (in which case, with most perishable goods -- which go bad faster once opened -- is strictly more problematic than stockpiling smaller packages with the same aggregate contents) or is itself an aggregate of smaller packages (in which case, its equivalent to stockpiling smaller packages.) The only place I can see the convenience issue you raise being a factor is if one store only sells the economy pack and another store sells the smaller pack, and there is a convenience difference between the two stores. Then, there is a premium for the convenience of the store. But that kind of different-store scenario is not what I'm referring to.
lotsofpulp 11y ago
I've always assumed "sales" are purely marketing tools where the price is increased and then lowered, or if the product isn't selling, then you lower the price by calling it "on sale". Either way, as a consumer, one should always just disregard anything other than the number you have to pay for a product when evaluating its value.
- unsettledtck 11y ago
  I agree and it was edifying to find the actual data to back this up. Although, you can see that there were genuinely lowered prices, so there are deals to be had specifically on Black Friday.
jharger 11y ago
It's only a reward if you consider your time spent researching worth less than the discount you actually receive.
- unsettledtck 11y ago
  At this point, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become ritualized cultural events. There is a cult around the supposed "rock bottom prices" on these days that allegedly remove the "research" bit and so we wanted to see if people were actually rewarded by capitalizing on the sales of these particular days.
- JoshTriplett 11y ago
  That's one of the reasons stores offer sales, coupons, and similar: they allow stores to effectively offer different prices to different people, extracting more total revenue than if they had to charge everyone the same price. A store could never get away with directly saying "we charge more if you have more money". But they can offer coupons and sales, which have the same effect: those who take the time to clip coupons and watch for sales pay a lower price (and thus buy anyway), while those who don't pay a higher price.
melling 11y ago
Someone told you that they offered the lowest price and you believed them? This is not a Hacker News story. Everyone ask their parents if they found the results surprising.
- unsettledtck 11y ago
  Well, actually we didn't believe them, which is why we conducted the experiment. And point of fact, there were actual stores that did offer the lowest price, but you needed to do your research and frankly, get lucky.
  - melling 11y ago
    Retail stores play all kinds of games. Offering a low price on something, with limited quantities, to get you in the store. Once you're there, they'll try to sell you other things that are marked higher. I'd like to know the tricks that online stores use. I know that two people can click at the same time and get two significantly different prices on Amazon, for instance.

fleitz 11y ago

Different stores offer different terms and have different costs... I shop at lots of stores I know charge more because they have better service. I love the shopping experience when I don't have to wait in line because they have enough cashiers and don't have people haggling over $5 at the cashier, if you want their prices go to their store...

unsettledtck 11y ago
This is true and I definitely love the convenience of Amazon (who was the most guilty of higher prices, by the way). Frankly, it was Sam's Club that really surprised me since I always assumed that they offered everything at a lower price as a perk built in for membership.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > Frankly, it was Sam's Club that really surprised me since I always assumed that they offered everything at a lower price as a perk built in for membership. As a general rule, anytime an institution [0] has an established reputation for lower prices such that people assume their prices are lower without doing comparisons, this becomes a license to charge higher prices. [0] this is true beyond just institutions, too; "economy" packs of products frequently sell for higher per-unit costs than packs with fewer units per pack, because enough people assume that the cost is lower and don't do the math.
  - unsettledtck 11y ago
    Intriguing! That makes complete and utter sense, which is part of the reason why we included Sam's Club in this scraping project. Wasn't actually aware of the higher per-unit costs.
  - mschuster91 11y ago
    > [0] this is true beyond just institutions, too; "economy" packs of products frequently sell for higher per-unit costs than packs with fewer units per pack, because enough people assume that the cost is lower and don't do the math. Assuming the "economy" pack is the only offer you visit a distinct store for and the good is perishable (so that stockpiling doesn't work), then it might be cheaper if you factor in the time you need to reach said store, shop there and get back home into the "cost". The less often you have to go shopping, the more time you save. That is especially true with cat foods when your cat is a picky eater and only eats certain food from a certain place which is most unfortunately at the other end of the city...
    - dragonwriter 11y ago
      > Assuming the "economy" pack is the only offer you visit a distinct store for and the good is perishable (so that stockpiling doesn't work), then it might be cheaper if you factor in the time you need to reach said store, shop there and get back home into the "cost". I'm actually referring to same-store, same-time prices when neither the economy nor the smaller pack is specially discounted, so the travel, etc., cost is the same. Stockpiling/perishability doesn't seem relevant in any way that favors economy packs -- an economy pack is either a larger single sealed pack (in which case, with most perishable goods -- which go bad faster once opened -- is strictly more problematic than stockpiling smaller packages with the same aggregate contents) or is itself an aggregate of smaller packages (in which case, its equivalent to stockpiling smaller packages.) The only place I can see the convenience issue you raise being a factor is if one store only sells the economy pack and another store sells the smaller pack, and there is a convenience difference between the two stores. Then, there is a premium for the convenience of the store. But that kind of different-store scenario is not what I'm referring to.

lotsofpulp 11y ago

I've always assumed "sales" are purely marketing tools where the price is increased and then lowered, or if the product isn't selling, then you lower the price by calling it "on sale". Either way, as a consumer, one should always just disregard anything other than the number you have to pay for a product when evaluating its value.

unsettledtck 11y ago
I agree and it was edifying to find the actual data to back this up. Although, you can see that there were genuinely lowered prices, so there are deals to be had specifically on Black Friday.

jharger 11y ago

It's only a reward if you consider your time spent researching worth less than the discount you actually receive.

unsettledtck 11y ago
At this point, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become ritualized cultural events. There is a cult around the supposed "rock bottom prices" on these days that allegedly remove the "research" bit and so we wanted to see if people were actually rewarded by capitalizing on the sales of these particular days.
JoshTriplett 11y ago
That's one of the reasons stores offer sales, coupons, and similar: they allow stores to effectively offer different prices to different people, extracting more total revenue than if they had to charge everyone the same price. A store could never get away with directly saying "we charge more if you have more money". But they can offer coupons and sales, which have the same effect: those who take the time to clip coupons and watch for sales pay a lower price (and thus buy anyway), while those who don't pay a higher price.

melling 11y ago

Someone told you that they offered the lowest price and you believed them? This is not a Hacker News story. Everyone ask their parents if they found the results surprising.

unsettledtck 11y ago
Well, actually we didn't believe them, which is why we conducted the experiment. And point of fact, there were actual stores that did offer the lowest price, but you needed to do your research and frankly, get lucky.
- melling 11y ago
  Retail stores play all kinds of games. Offering a low price on something, with limited quantities, to get you in the store. Once you're there, they'll try to sell you other things that are marked higher. I'd like to know the tricks that online stores use. I know that two people can click at the same time and get two significantly different prices on Amazon, for instance.