想象一下你在一家超市，正準備把你從貨架上挑選的一樣物品放進購物籃，一個店員模樣的人走上前來，問你這樣物品多少錢。你知道嗎？

Body: Imagine you are in a supermarket and are just about to drop an item you have selected from the shelves into your shopping basket. Someone who looks like a store employee steps forward and asks you how how much the item costs. Would you know?

如果你懷疑自己不知道，那你有伴了。佛羅里達國際大學彼得•迪克松(Peter Dickson)和佛羅里達大學阿蘭•索耶(Alan Sawyer)領導的一項研究發現，當受到裝扮成商店盤點員的研究人員詢問時，知道自己剛挑選物品價格的顧客還不到一半。大多數購物者低估了自己所取物品的價格。有高達20%的人甚至沒有信心去猜一下。

If you doubt that you would, you are not alone. A study led by Peter Dickson of Florida International University and Alan Sawyer of the University of Florida found that fewer than half of customers knew the price of the article they had just selected when they were asked by researchers posing as store stock-takers. Most shoppers under-estimated the prices of their products. As many as 20 per cent did not even have the confidence to venture a guess.

一些評論家認為，出售商品的范圍擴大，以及沃爾瑪(Wal-Mart)之類折扣零售商的興起，已使消費者比以往更留心價格。

Some commentators believe the increasing range of goods on offer, and the rise of cut-price retailers such as Wal-Mart, have made consumers more price conscious than ever.

互聯網使快速的價格比較更加容易，因而愈發讓一些人認為，當今消費者不會多付錢。但佛羅里達研究指出，消費者對待價格的態度仍同以往一樣錯綜復雜。2003年9月期《哈佛商業評論》中有篇文章援引了這份研究。

The internet, which has made quick price comparisons even easier, has added to the view that consumers these days will not overpay. But the Florida study, cited in an article in the September 2003 edition of the Harvard Business Review, indicates that consumer attitudes to price remain as complicated as ever.

以價格和品質間的取舍為例。一些過去出手闊綽的人，現在已不準備大手大腳購買某些商品和服務。這不假，舉例來說，短途航空旅行就是這樣。美國西南航空(Southwest)以及歐洲的瑞安(Ryanair)和EasyJet等低成本航空公司正在吸引商務旅客，換作從前，這些人可能會搭乘一家票價更貴的航空公司的飛機。即使在人們繼續花錢購買汽車等高檔商品時，他們也常常貨比三家，以求最理想的價格。

Take the trade-off between price and quality. Some who were previously high spenders are no longer prepared to pay large sums for certain goods and services. This is true, for example, of short airline trips. The low-cost airlines, such as Southwest in the US and Ryanair and EasyJet in Europe, attract business travellers who would previously have flown on one of the more expensive carriers. Even when people continue to invest in top-of-the-range products, such as cars, they often shop around for the best price.

但珠寶之類的奢侈品情況又如何呢？西北大學凱洛格商學院訪問助理教授埃里克•安德松(Eric Anderson)與麻省理工學院斯隆商學院副教授鄧肯•西梅斯特(Duncan Simester)是上述《哈佛商業評論》文章的作者。他們發現，珠寶買家未必喜歡低價。“顧客往往把折扣解讀為需求疲軟的信號，這可能引起他們對質量的懷疑，”他們表示。

But what about luxury goods such as jewellery? The authors of the Harvard Business Review article Eric Anderson, a visiting assistant professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and Duncan Simester, an associate professor at MIT Sloan School of Management found that jewellery buyers did not necessarily like low prices. "Customers often interpret discounts as a signal of weak demand, which may raise doubts about quality," they say.

研究人員對一家銷售高檔禮品和珠寶的公司進行了研究。這家公司正考慮允許顧客分期付款購買其商品，而且不對分期付款加收費用。來自其它零售部門的證據顯示，這樣做會增加銷售。

The researchers conducted a study with a company that sells high-quality gifts and jewellery. The company was considering allowing customers to pay for its products in instalments, without incurring financing charges. Evidence from other retailing sectors suggested this would increase sales.

為了驗證同樣的情況是否會發生自己的銷售上，這家禮品珠寶公司向其1000名顧客發送了一份提供分期付款的商品目錄。公司還向另1000名顧客發送了不提供分期付款的商品目錄。哪批顧客定購珠寶更多呢？是收到沒有分期付款商品目錄的顧客。這些被要求以現金全額付款的顧客定購的珠寶要多13%。原因何在？一位顧客告訴研究人員，提供分期付款方案使這家珠寶公司顯得“俗氣”。

To test whether the same would happen to its sales, the company sent 1,000 of its customers a catalogue containing the interest-free instalments offer. They sent another 1,000 customers catalogues without the instalment offer. Which customers ordered more jewellery? The ones who did not receive the instalment offer. The customers who were asked to pay cash, in full, ordered 13 per cent more jewellery. Why? One customer told the researchers that offering the instalment plan made the jewellery company look "tacky".

除此之外，還有哪些領域人們建議公司不要降價？《哈佛商業評論》的作者以激光眼部外科手術為例，稱用折扣方式推廣這種服務是不明智的。一位眼科大夫說：“好藥從不賤賣。”

Where else would companies not be advised to cut prices? The Harvard Business Review writers cite laser eye surgery as an example of a service where it would be unwise to advertise discount sales. One eye surgeon said: "Good medicine never goes on sale."

作者補充說，亞特蘭大一家女裝專賣店也是出于類似原因，而不使用“削價”標記來促銷其新款產品。店家擔心，對于帶有“削價”標記的衣服，顧客要么會把它們視為先前季節的剩貨，要么會看作其他顧客認定不適合自己的新款式。

They add that a speciality women's clothing store in Atlanta offered similar reasons for not using "sale" signs to promote new items. She feared customers would see clothes with "sale" signs on them either as leftovers from previous seasons or as new designs that other customers had decided were not for them.

因此，盡管一些奢侈品和服務容易受到價格戰的影響，比如航空旅行和汽車，但其它商品和服務則不同。但對公司來說，說服顧客花錢買了東西并不就等于就完事了，公司還應當確保顧客使用買來的東西。

So while some luxury products and services, such as air travel and cars, are susceptible to price competition, others are not. But persuading customers to part with their cash is not the end of the affair; companies should make sure they make use of their purchases too.

為什么呢？對賣家來說，貨款到手（最好是全額提前獲得）不就夠了？不完全是。說服客戶消費自己買來的東西，往往是說服他們再次購買，以及向朋友推薦這種產品或服務的關鍵。

Why? Surely it is enough for sellers to get their hands on the money, preferably in full and upfront? Not always. Persuading customers to consume what they have bought is often the key to persuading them to make repeat purchases and to recommend the goods or services to their friends.

這就是從前《哈佛商業評論》上一篇文章的核心觀點，這篇文章題為《定價和消費心理》，作者是哈佛商學院的約翰•古維爾(John Gourville)和香港科技大學商學院的迪利普•索曼(Dilip Soman)。在這篇發表于2002年9月的文章中，作者認為，買來產品后并不使用的通常都是些短期顧客。

This was the central argument of an earlier Harvard Business Review article, "Pricing and the Psychology of Consumption", by John Gourville of Harvard Business School and Dilip Soman of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's business school. In the article, published in September 2002, the authors argue that people who fail to make use of their purchases are often short-term customers.

作者指出，大多數雜志的續訂率僅為60%或更少；每年僅有一半的健身俱樂部會員續簽會員資格。這不僅是因為把握現有客戶比搜尋新客戶更便宜。企業也可以勸說現有客戶購買升級服務。“例如在軟件業，企業銷售升級產品賺的錢通常要比出售初始版本更多，”作者寫道。

Most magazines, they say, achieve renewal rates of only 60 per cent, or less. Only half of health club members renew their subscriptions each year. It is not just that it is cheaper to hang on to existing customers than going hunting for new ones. Companies can also persuade existing customers to buy upgrades. "In the software business, for example, companies often make more money selling upgrades than selling the initial application," the writers say.

企業怎樣才能勸說現有客戶不離開呢？有關實驗已經反復證明，人們為某樣東西花費越多，人們就越有可能使用它。因此，一個花500美元預定滑雪假期的人，比一個花100美元預定滑雪假期的人因生病而取消活動的可能性要小。

How can companies persuade existing customers to stay on? Experiments have repeatedly established that the more people pay for something, the more likely they are to use it. So, someone who has paid $500 for a skiing holiday is less likely to cancel it if they fall ill than someone who has paid $100.

當某人花了，比如說，600美元獲得一年的健身俱樂部會員資格，他在開始幾個星期肯定會經常去那里健身，但在此之后，他去的次數通常會越來越少。

When someone pays, say, $600 for a yearly health club membership, they will certainly go to the gym for the first few weeks. But after that, their attendance often tails off.

到了要續簽會員資格的時候，上次付出的600美元已成為遙遠的記憶。在這種情況下，如果鼓勵會員每月付費50美元，這或許更有可能使他們成為長期客戶。每個月付費會使他們更有可能在年底續簽會員資格。

By the time their membership comes up for renewal, that $600 is a distant memory. In cases such as these, encouraging members to pay $50 a month may make them more likely to become long-term customers. Each month that they pay will make them more likely to keep coming in renewing their membership at the end of the year.

對珠寶購買者來說，分期付款方式可能行不通，但對于其它相對昂貴服務的購買者來說，這也許能留住。

While instalment plans might not work for jewellery buyers, it can be a useful way of hanging on to purchasers of other relatively expensive services.

作者簡介：邁克•斯卡平克爾(Michael Skapinker)是《金融時報》的管理專欄主編編輯。他在管理和組織研究問題上論著述頗豐。他經常赴美國和歐洲就管理和與商業專題發表演講。他曾擔任美國哥倫比亞廣播公司駐雅典記者。之后，他加盟《金融時報》并擔任一系列職務，其中包括管理記者、電子業作家、娛樂業記者和航天航空記者。在此期間，他對許多行業獲得了深刻獨到的見解。邁克•斯卡平克爾畢業于劍橋大學。

譯者/張征