The Psychology of the 99 cent trick
By redcape22
@redcape22 (20)
United States
January 19, 2011 1:07am CST
I did an essay on this a while back for a PSAT and the topic intrigues me a lot because I know that it affects me when I myself shop.
The topic dealt with how advertisers will grab the attention of the prospective customer(s) in order to get said customer(s) to, well, buy their product. One of the most outstanding ways advertisers do this is the 99 cent trick.
Imagine you are in a grocery store and you see a candy bar. Although you see the price tag as 99 cents, but you say to yourself "Oh! This costs a dollar!", this trick is an illusion to your subconscious. And we're not just talking dollars here, this can be on a much bigger scale. If you are shopping for clothes, you are probably more likely to buy a pair of jeans if they were listed at say $39.99 instead of a flat $40.00. This trick of 9's makes your subconscious believe that you are actually saving a lot of money, even if it is in reality only one penny. Now I'm not trying to decrease the value of a penny here, but this works for more than just denominations of 99 (although in many cases 99 looks more appealing than say, $3.59 or $68.29, etc).
Have you ever noticed anything like this while shopping? What other ways do you think advertisers grab at your subconscious to trick you into buying a product or service?
3 people like this
8 responses
@rog0322 (2829)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
19 Jan 11
Hi red,
I used to have the idea that a cent less is cheaper than a cent more. I used to get trapped by this trick during my early shopping days.
Not anymore now. Whenever I see the .99 or .95 cent mark, I always round it off to the nearest value, say 499.95, I would automatically tell myself and those around me, "it costs five hundred bucks" and they would react to it. No matter the reaction, I am always right when I try to explain what they are going to get as change after the transaction and it is not much money at all. It is like looking at the real value, so to speak.
I say again, I no longer fall for such tricks nowadays: 499.95 or 499.99, I'm always five hundred bucks poorer if I go for it.
1 person likes this
@khalida (1126)
• India
16 Mar 11
that is kind of an old trick really. may be the teenagers will go for it 
actually one trick that i think works is, they say "up to 50% off" everyone is really happy but they do not notice that it is only "up to" and not "flat 50% off". so this means, when you finally hit the store, you will find offers for products at only 10 or even 20% and very few items which would be too old for 50% off. 
actually one trick that i think works is, they say "up to 50% off" everyone is really happy but they do not notice that it is only "up to" and not "flat 50% off". so this means, when you finally hit the store, you will find offers for products at only 10 or even 20% and very few items which would be too old for 50% off. 
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
20 Jan 11
I've wondered about this often. Do we actually shop and add up 16.99 plus 4,98 plus 12,49 to get the total? No, most likely we all round to 17 plus 5 plus 13 for our total. So I dont' see that it is helping their sales to use the "99 cent theory". And it'd probably be easier on them to get rid of the cents column. To me...haveing to deal with that 99 cents in my calculation is annoying. I round up anyway, so it doesn't grab my attention at all. And when talking about a price..do most say "I got that for 14.99", no usually we just say " got it for 15 bucks".
I have noticed lately tho..the buy one get one free is almost gone..it is now...buy 2 get one free or buy one get one half off. It constatnly changes and gets annoying to have to keep track of how many you buy. I would just like it if they'd drop the price per item and be done with it. If an item is $2 each and they say buy 2 get 1 free...that means the items are $1.33 each. Why not just say "$1.33 each" I would venture to say, that would grab peoples attention big time! "Wow, only $1.33 each! Great bargain" and not make us work so hard to itemize the price. Then again...that is probably their trick to get us to buy...the FREE word. "I'm getting this one free and I would have bought 2 anyway."
@_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
22 Jan 11
I have always rounded up, even when I was a little kid. I always hate it when people see something that costs, let's say,, $29.99 and someone says, "Oh that's 20 dollars." I'm like, "Noooo, that's 30." It drives me crazy.
@2004cqui (2812)
• United States
19 Jan 11
Yes. I noticed this long ago. My husband still gets tripped up on it. Everything in a grocery store is set up to lure money out of your pocket. Ever notice the bakery smell out in the parking lot or as soon as you walk in the door? That is designed to make you hungry. Never go shopping on an empty stomach. From the way items are displayed to where they are located in the store, it's all marketing. The canning supplies are located in the back left hand side of the store to make you go by other merchandise in the store. The same goes for department stores. Christmas decorations are in the back left of the store for the same reason. Smaller grocery stores will have milk and dairy on the back wall furthest from the way you entered. Merchandise isn't displayed the way we need to see it, but rather the way they can get you to buy more! Oh ya, big bulky things like paper products are placed just as you finished shopping because they know customers very often stop shopping when the cart is full.
@elysiamarie (147)
• Canada
20 Jan 11
I've read on the psychology of the 99 cent rule. I myself like the other users here round numbers in my head. Sometimes I go so far as to add in the tax to the equation.
While I have been known to watch what I spend, I have also had weak moments where I've bought something on impulse only to get the item home and realize that what I paid for the item was not worth it. Sometimes our excitement takes over and causes us to impulsively buy.
Oh well, it's human nature.
@Torunn (8607)
• Norway
19 Jan 11
At least you get the penny back! 'Cause you still have penny coins over there? Here they have prices like 3.89 NOK, and then you have to pay 4.00 because the lowest value we have is 0.50 NOK.
When I was studying in Austria I used to save all the groschen (Austrian pennies from before the euro/cent), but in 9 months it didn't save more than a pizza and an ice-cream at my favourite ice-cream parlour :-) Now I try to buy one small item that I know the price of so I can pay in cash and use all the one and two cents when I'm in euro lands.
