Do you self-price?

I popped into the supermarket this morning, after collecting a few Freecycle items. The supermarket was desperately getting people to spend by playing muzak with a consumption theme. An awful cover version of Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" being one unsavoury example.

I bought three tins of ASDA tomato soup for 72p and noticed someone else buying the same but of the Heinz variety, for a total of £2.65

I can't tell the difference between the two soups in taste. One tin has an austere green on white label and the other your typical Heinz label. The purchase reminded me of when I read The Undercover Economist, a book I recommend to all who are frugal.

One particular part of the book discusses the price of coffee from those coffee shops I never enter. At the back of every coffee shop you see a chalkboard with all the varieties of coffee and the prices next to them.

As The Undercover Economist points out there is little actual price difference between the shots of coffee. The coffees do have different prices and names but that is just for the consumer to self-price themselves.

If you think you are of a given class and are more deserving than others then you might go for the Ristretto or the Macchiato rather than the straight Espresso. No extra cost for the coffee shop but certainly more for you. Self-pricing is a tried and tested High Street marketing strategy.

The same is true of supermarkets. I eat bran flakes and lots of them. I could buy Kelloggs Bran Flakes for £2.68 or, like my father buy the less expensive ASDA flakes next to the Kelloggs flakes but still for over £1.50. Or, I could be less lazy and notice that above the two there is the ASDA budget brand, green on white label, for 77p. Blind taste me all you like, I won't tell the difference and I wouldn't care if there was a slight difference, anyway.

What ASDA are doing is this. If you want Kelloggs because you think you are special then there it is but if you want to save money and still make a handsome profit for ASDA then buy the intermediate brand. Oh, and if you refuse to buy either then have the cheapest ones but we'll separate them from the more expensive ones just to give you time to change your mind and buy a more expensive option.

Recommendations

Compare Supermarkets - Check the price of your shopping basket afore you leave your home. (UK readers only - Suggest your country's equivalent in the comments section below)
The Undercover Economist - A must read for the frugal to understand pricing.