Gitex Shopper: Dh9 deals key

Hundreds of electronic gadgets, cameras, smart TV sets, self-balancing personal transporters, and the most expensive Ultra High Definition TV sets on sale at the Gitex Shopper 2015 have one thing in common – whatever is the price, high or low, they all have one common ending figure and that is the magical lucky number 9.

Charm pricing has been a worldwide trend and retailers and shops tend to put the figure which seemed to be used at the Gitex Shopper 2015 too.

Look around any store or mall in the city and you will be welcomed by price-tags ending with 9, which is one of the oldest retail tricks to increase sales.

Almost all retailers and brands present on the Gitex shop floor have widely used this magical lucky number and you won’t be surprised to see the number of merchandisers, girls and boys, displaying placards with price tags ending ‘9’, “99”, “999” or even 9,999.

Almost 99 per cent (pun intended) of the products ranging from the most expensive TV sets to the cheapest memory card are priced at something-9.

“It is a psychological marketing tool because customers can easily remember the number 9, instead of 10. They will also think that the actual price is less when they compared the prices to other brands,” said a retailer.

A leading psychologist in Dubai told Emirates 24|7 that ending price-tags at 9 is part of psychological marketing and it is a worldwide phenomenon.

“Putting the price one dirham less than the round figure is a psychological marketing tactic used for more than a century and it is to tempt customers buy. Branding itself is a similar charm pricing strategy,” said Dr Ansar KM of Wellness Clinic.

“Most people will think that Dh99 is not equal to Dh100, and customers will not feel like having to pay Dh100,” added Dr Mohammed Yousuf, a psychologist at Aster Group.

Customers are mentally conditioned to associate the number 9 to discounts and offers. Customers read numbers from left to right and they end to encode a price like Dh7.99 as Dh7, especially if we read too quickly.

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