Foot-in-the-door:
Lelong Lelong!!! Come come see my apples hor! Cheep Cheep... four foh one dollah!
"Wah...", you think, "usually people sell 3 for $1, but today this guy sell 4 for $1. Must buy must buy!! Uncle ah... can give me 4 apples thank you!".
So the uncle grabs a plastic bag but suddenly stops, looks up, and grins :D
"If you buy 10 apples and an additional 4 oranges I charge you $4 for all!!".
"Alamak... aiya... *long pause* okay la I take the lot!".
There exists 2 processes to explain why the foot-in-the-door technique works.
The self-perception process theory approaches the foot-in-the-door technique with an initial small request. This request may cause the person to have a self perception process where they think of the situation as in the above example "good deal".
Thus, the second request made by the stall owner to purchase 10 apples and 4 oranges was considered to be in compliance with the first and the person would still be thinking, "after all, it is still a good deal".
As for the consistency process theory, as its name suggests, focuses on the consistency from request to request. In our example, not complying in the second request would appear inconsistent in which the person may want to simply comply with the request.
Door-in-the-face:
The door-in-the-face technique for the above example would be something like this-
First request, 10 apples for $3. This initial request is one that is sure to be turned down.
Second request, 4 apples for $1. It is expected that the second request seem much more likely to be agreed upon.
The 'norm of reciprocity' states that we should return any favours we have received.
Receiving a birthday gift would cause a person to feel guilty and to return the giver an appropriate birthday gift in kind.
Thus the second request would be seen as a favour such as, "Please could you at least buy 4 at $1. It is really very cheap. Please?"
Scarcity:
As its name implies, the lesser of the item being sold, the more attractive it would be seen by others.
If there were a big group of potential customers around a fruit stall, the vendor would manipulate the situation by advertising the limited supply and really cheap price of the fruits for sale.
Magic.
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3 comments:
By the way, I just bought 10 fuji apples from sheng xiong yesterday. Unfortunately, the price was fixed and there was no uncle to give a special offer :).
I was intrigued by the theory about scarcity.
Personally, when I buy cookies from a bakery, I don't really like buying them when there do not seem to be so many left as I feel that everyone else has picked the good ones.
However, I agree with you that this phenomenon is true when it comes to other products like may be books (the last copy of the limited edition one, or CDs). Sometimes when I am not sure if I would like to buy a book but I see that that is the last copy left, I am more persuaded to buy it. May be it's just the kiasu mentality. :)
damn! this ALWAYS so happens to me; the crazed shopper.
I love shopping and those who are close to me know that for a very fact. (HAA!)
and so, the SALE beckons you (ok, me) and SOOOO you (ok, I) allow myself to be ENTICED.
HOLY! So this was what happened.
My friend wanted to get some socks but they were those she's rarely wear. But, they only came in packs of 4. So we decided, alright, we shall just split half.
And then, the very kind and ooh-so-irresistable sales lady comes by and tells us that if we get a second item, it'd be at 20% off. fact was, we had NOTHING else to get and we told her. and then, as though she hadn't heard anything, she said "if you get 3 items, it'd be 40% off the total bill".
HOLY GOD. So, to recap. Initially, my friend and I intended to get that pack of 4 socks; 2 pairs for each of us.
And when we got out of the shop, after much deliberation and hints of being chased out (those grilles were already half pulled down), we ended up with TWO packs of 4 socks each and a necklace.
we each went home with FOUR pairs of socks each. FOUR!
So, think foot-in-the-door when you see the SALE.
But I guess I'm still heading for it. Haa!
Haha, this is something oh so true. Things that happen to me very often. To make matter worse, it will only occur to you that you don't need the addition item after purchase it.
This is a very good marketing technique as I feel most people are unable to think and make a decision properly in given time frame (ie: we can't take 10 mins to think whether we want to buy the other 6 more apples to get the 4 oranges). And since it's within our budget, we tend to conform. Sometimes I'd like to think that it could also be a way for us to prevent further bugging from the salesperson.
Oh.. beauty parlors such as manicure shops like to use door in the face. Ask you sign a package. Can't afford, give you discount, minus the number of session of manicures. Still cannot afford, ask you buy a voucher for another manicure with no expiry dates. Get on my nerves sometimes.
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