Customer retention: RUB study on price reduction
Good negotiators save an average of five percent in their
favourite shop
A skilful negotiator can save a lot of money when shopping
in his favourite store. This was found out by researchers at the
Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) in a large-scale study. An extra five percent
discount is, on average, no problem - as long as you know how to use your
customer loyalty as a trump.
The credo turned on its head
For loyal customers, the price is not so important – at
least, that was the credo in marketing and sales up to now. The recently
published study by the Bochum scientists Prof. Jan Wieseke, Sascha Alavi and
Johannes Habel of the Faculty of Economics at the RUB has turned this
perception fundamentally on its head: “Many customers consciously play out
their loyalty in price negotiations, and thus gain an extra five percent
discount without any problem” says Wieseke. When buying a car worth 30,000
Euros, a buyer thus saves up to 1,500 Euros without any great effort.