Do you quote prices over the phone? How do you handle this, and do you match competitor’s advertised prices?

Gary Wiggs, Badcock Home Furniture & More

Gary Wiggs, Badcock Home Furniture & More

We do quote prices over the phone but we do not match pricing. Advertising is always an adventure. It sometimes seems we have a photo copier of our ads going right into competitor’s stores. However, this has not seemed to hurt us. We continue to grow. We were up 2.4 % this past month in youth and, during this slowdown in the economy, were very happy to be there.

If you review the ads in the southeast, our product is very comparable to that found in dedicated furniture stores. This really levels the playing field. Pricing very rarely make us lose a sale.

Ali Wing, giggle

Sure, if customers calling inquiring about a product, we share all product details requested including price. With respect to price matching, we will price match when/if asked so long as it’s not a request to match limited promotions, free shipping and/or sales tax issues that arise from Internet sales.

Phil Wrzesinski, Toy House

Yes, we do quote prices over the phone. We will fax or email prices, as well. We also take any opportunity we can to talk about our delivery policies, special order policies, what we have in stock, on display, etc. Our goal with phone customers, as it is with every customer, is to give them enough information so that they can make a good choice. We want them to feel as comfortable as possible both with our store and with their purchasing decisions. Although we do not match other stores’ prices, we recognize that for many customers, price is not the deciding factor in the purchase — often it is trust. We believe that being transparent and open in the process helps us build that trust.

Sandy Buttrill, Kidspace

We do match prices, but we try not to quote prices over the phone. We really don’t have a big problem with this though because we don’t have much specialty competition in our area; we don’t get a lot of pricing phone calls.

When someone does call asking about pricing, first we ask if they’re in our trade area. If they’re not, we find out where they’re from and we tell them we’re a member of NINFRA and recommend a NINFRA dealer in their area.

If someone calls asking about crib prices, we talk up our product by mentioning how many we have on the floor (typically about 55 vignettes), what brands we carry and the fact that we have exclusivity in our area.

Sometimes customers will come into the store and mention, for example, they saw a bedding set on the Internet for $10 less. We tell them we will match that price but we will have to order it for them rather than letting them take the set in the store because the set in the store has to be available for customers coming in wanting to take the product with them that day. Usually they won’t want to wait and will pay the extra $10.

Yes, we quote prices over the telephone. On the telephone it is very difficult to distinguish between a customer who has been in your store and just needs additional information and someone who is just price shopping. To provide the best service to the customers who have come into my store we feel the need to give them prices over the phone. At the same time we try to find out if the customer has any other needs or questions.

We will match local competition if customers have prices in writing from the store. Unfortunately, not all customers tell you the truth when it comes to another store’s prices. Sometimes they tell you the Internet pricing is local. Thus, it is necessary to get your competitor’s quote in writing.

We will not match out-of-town prices. Other markets may have different pricing structures and then you have delivery, freight and damage issues to contend with. Accordingly, I will not quote prices out of my market area.

Yes, Lone Star Baby & Kids quotes prices over the phone. However, when we do we try to make the customer aware of our Low Price Guarantee where we will match a competitor’s price. Our Low Price Guarantee hopefully ensures a visit into one of our stores.