Customers like affordable restaurants? Beware of falling into the price trap!
Don't be careless in reducing the price of restaurants, the ultimate goal is to increase the unit price of customers. China people advocate thrift, and most people's consumption concept tends to be good and cheap. When looking for a friend to recommend a restaurant, I believe the most frequently asked sentence is: "Is there a delicious and affordable restaurant?"
However, what puzzles many restaurant owners is that the price is closely related to the competitiveness and profitability of restaurants. Not long ago, I heard the catering boss say that he wanted to raise the unit price of some customers, but he didn't dare to mention it casually for fear that customers would feel expensive.
First, other people's "cheap" just looks cheap.
The competition pressure in the catering market is increasing, and there are many ways to compete. Price is one of the ways to enhance competitiveness. Consumers all know the truth of "shopping around", and whoever has a low price for the same thing naturally has an advantage.
So those "affordable" restaurants are often overcrowded, but did they really just lower the price? Analyze several common practices first.
Combined packaging
That is, the price of purchasing a combined package is cheaper than the price of purchasing each product separately.
Such preferential consumers are visible and willing to cooperate. For the catering boss, a little discount leads to an increase in the overall consumption of customers in a shorter choice time, which ensures the customer's unit price, reduces the pressure on the kitchen and improves the ordering efficiency, but it does not suffer.
Mantissa pricing
Mantissa pricing means avoiding integer pricing such as 10 yuan and 20 yuan, and changing to 9/9.9 yuan, 19/ 19.9 yuan, 29/29.9 yuan, or slightly raising the price, for example, pricing 30 to 32 yuan.
Pricing is less than an integer, that is, there is room for growth, which also gives customers room for imagination. In the above example, 30 yuan's original message to the customer was: this dish is more than 30 yuan, which is not cheap; 32 yuan's message to the guests is that the price of this dish is moderate, not as high as that of 35 yuan.
Small amount and half sale
Selling products in small and half portions is cheaper than the overall price. Even if the unit price is slightly increased, it looks very "affordable".
For example, Tiramisu is sold in small pieces, and the price of tens of dollars is still acceptable, and we can even buy a few more. But if a whole tiramisu sells for several hundred dollars, the chances of buying it are reduced.
Just because the restaurant is under the banner of material benefits does not mean that there will be no bottom line price reduction. This small price adjustment actually makes customers feel "earning" from the psychological level.
Zege once said, "Consumers don't like to buy cheap goods, but like to take advantage." In other words, when pleasing customers, you don't have to blindly pursue cheap, and cost performance is an important indicator to consider.
What customers want is not price, but value.
1, consumption upgrading, low-price competition is becoming more and more meaningless.
With the post-90s generation becoming the main force of catering consumption, the catering market is becoming younger.
Under the consumption upgrade, the younger generation has stronger consumption power and desire, and is more willing to pay a premium for good products, good services and good brands.
On the contrary, too much price reduction will lose the tonality of the brand, be abandoned by customers, and the quality, personality and experience will be more sought after.
2. Price is one of the manifestations of value.
Consumers like "affordable", but sometimes they think "cheap goods are not good" For customers, price is actually the embodiment of value, and customers' understanding of product value is not expensive, but value.
If you find the highest price among peers and competitors, then find the lowest price and choose the middle price, the intuitive feeling for customers is that it is cheaper than expensive products, better than cheap products and easier to be recognized.
What restaurants want to sell is not the price, but the value they can bring to consumers. Pricing based on product value will make customers feel that the value is worth it, even beyond the value, and they will choose.
Third, how to satisfy the "value for money" in consumers' minds.
To put it bluntly, consumers are not short of money, and the pricing is cheap, so they can't give consumers a "ultimate interests" and it is difficult to be identified. On the contrary, enhancing self-worth and satisfying consumers' "sense of value" are not only beneficial to the brand itself.
How to balance the interests of restaurants and the needs of consumers must find a clear purpose and way.
1. Make it clear that the purpose of price reduction is to increase the unit price of customers.
When pricing products, no matter how the unit price of products changes, the core purpose of restaurants is to increase the unit price of customers and increase profit income. For example, in the practice of a hot pot restaurant, the price of dishes is generally in the tens, twenties and thirties, half of which are introduced to induce customers to "eat less and eat more", and the profit is mainly placed at the bottom of the pot. Hot dishes are affordable, which not only gives customers a sense of value, but also allows customers to buy more copies without pressure, which improves the unit price of customers. The so-called small profits but quick turnover is the truth.
Let's change it. The "hot dish" here is a homogeneous product with competitors, and the "pot bottom" is its own characteristic or main course. When restaurants adopt the price reduction strategy, they need quality and attractive products to support customers' unit price and avoid the feeling of cheapness.
2. Additional appreciation means: enhancing brand value.
Generally speaking, lowering the price will attract consumers to come to the discount, but conversely, supporting the premium through brand appreciation can also make consumers feel value for money.
The value here includes not only the food itself, but also the environment and services. In other words, it is to find a selling point.
For example, the service culture of Haidilao is a selling point, and the space value of Starbucks is also a selling point. These selling points support their differentiation from competitors, and consumers are eager for these added values.
Although there is investment in the early stage of brand value-added, it brings consumers' recognition of products and stickiness to brands.
3. Pricing considerations: consumption channels and people.
Grandma's 3 yuan Mapo tofu is cheap, which brings a cost-effective label to grandma's house while draining, and is more suitable for popular low-end consumer places. Moreover, once the price of 3 yuan Mapo tofu is raised, it will intuitively give consumers an impression of "hotel price increase".
For another example, Xibei takes the "small expensive" route, highlighting the sense of exquisiteness with high-quality ingredients and services, which is more suitable for the middle class who accept high-quality and high-priced products, and it is not an exaggeration to enter the mid-end shopping malls.
Making good use of price can not only input different memory labels for brands, but also effectively locate consumer groups and channels. Therefore, the pricing of restaurants should be consistent with their own positioning, and there is no need to go cheap blindly.
Zege often sees people selling the same product 15 and others selling 30.
It doesn't mean that selling 15 yuan is necessarily better than selling 30 yuan. For example, in a single product store with elegant and comfortable environment, compared with the pancakes on street stalls, the pancakes sold are slightly more expensive and acceptable to consumers.
What consumers call "taking advantage" is actually to gain a sense of value from products. No matter from the pricing or the product itself, as long as it can satisfy this sense of value in the eyes of consumers, it is an "affordable" restaurant that they are willing to pay again.