The most expensive item that you might have bought online would be a smartphone or any other electronics/household item. These couple of categories are one of the most lucrative products categories for online sellers. In fact, some online marketplaces have tied up directly with manufacturers to sell their products on their platform.
But have you ever tried to buy jewelry online? What about a car? An apartment? When it comes to higher priced products, people still prefer to buy them offline. Although, there are some niche marketplaces that cater to these sectors, their market is very limited. One big reason behind it is the hesitation of consumers to buy expensive products online.
What defines an expensive or a high value product online?
Before we take into account the tips to entice customers into buying expensive/high valued products online, we need to understand what ÔÇ£expensiveÔÇØ or ÔÇ£luxuryÔÇØ means in the ecommerce sector.
The distinction between an expensive product and non-expensive product till date is made purely on the basis of price. However studies have shown that consumers will easily buy a $2000 laptop online but think twice before buying a $1000 diamond ring. So being an expensive/luxury product does not always relate to the price of the product.
So how do consumers decide what is high valued?
The answer lies in the perception of the product itself. There are a few categories which are termed as expensive luxury items to be sold online. These are the niche categories which have not become mainstream products yet online. Although there is a huge market for these products, still enticing people to buy these things from online shopping stores requires major hustling. For it, you need to first understand the purchase cycle of the consumers
Let us now take a closer look at the tips incorporated by ecommerce stores to entice consumers into buying luxury or expensive products.
Ways to Make Your Expensive Product Look like a Total Steal:
As already discussed other than convenience, price is a major factor for pushing people towards ecommerce. This is the reason why luxury items have still not gone mainstream, when it comes to ecommerce. However there are some tips and tricks used by ecommerce stores dealing in luxury items that can entice consumers into buying expensive products.
People often pay premium to have their problems solved
There is a known fact that consumer can pay a premium if you are able to solve their biggest problems. This even includes consumers who are often reluctant to spend an extra dime on essential items. The job of the sellers is to just find what is the most crucial problem faced by consumers and plug it while selling the items.
For example – an online real estate marketplace can offer virtual viewing of the houses/apartments to the consumers, diminishing the need to visit the site personally. This way rather than spending a whole weekend looking at half a dozen apartments, consumers can do the same via online real estate marketplace in a matter of hours.
Analytics & Reporting Features Are Must for Your Ecommerce Store
When it comes to expensive products, it is the additional services offered by a brand that induces people to make a purchase. For example – online automobile marketplace can offer additional warranty or an year of free car care service along with the car to make the offering sound lucrative. Many expensive or high valued product marketplaces use this tactic to lure customers. It also helps inincreasing the average order value of the cart
Exclusivity always turns the tide in your favor
When a product is only available in a given place, consumers will not have any option other than buying it from there. A lot of manufacturers are nowadays introducing online only products. This is helpful for brands as online only approach involves less marketing expenses as compared to offline counterpart.
Introduce a more expensive offering
If you want your sedan to look big, put a hatchback right next to it. If you want your sedan to look small, pitch it against an SUV. This is a universal strategy used by several brands and businesses. In order to make an expensive product look like a steal, brands often introduce a more expensive offering, that makes the former product look like a sweet deal.
A study by the Journal of Marketing Research concluded the same, which was experimented by Williams-Sonoma. They had a $275 bread maker listed in their print catalog. But its sales were very dismal as people thought of it to be priced on a higher scale. They then introduced a similar product for $429 and positioned it next to the $275 bread maker. Soon the sales of $275 bread maker nearly doubled.
This shows that in order to entice consumers into buying an expensive product, you can pitch it against an even more expensive product, making the former a steal. It is all about understanding the shopping tendencies of online buyers.
Increase the perception of value within your product
The price of a product is often associated with the perception of its value. It is a known fact that iphone, one of the most popular premium smartphones, costs around $200 to manufacture. But it is sold in the market for over $600. Why? Because the company ensures that people perceive the value of their product as premium. You just need to pivot your product in such a way that it increases the value of product perceived by the consumers.
This is one of the critical tips for enticing customers into buying expensive items. Often it has been found that there are consumers who want to buy a particular item, but shortage of funds hinders the purchase. One way of enticing such customers is to offer them option to buy a product with installments. This is a common strategy used by brands to entice consumers.
Conclusion
The fact of the matter is that many ecommerce marketplaces have a tough time selling expensive items on their platform as consumers are still inclined towards offline when it comes to buying high valued products. If you are one of those ecommerce businesses, the tips mentioned above can help influence consumersÔÇÖ purchase decision in favor of your online store. In the end, it is all about making sure that you succeed in making the consumers believe they are getting a good deal. Once you learn to approach each sale from this angle, you can increase your close rate as well as your profits.
