Good Pricing Practices?
SCAN DO It's no secret that good pricing practices are
good for business. They increase customer satisfaction, increase profits and go a long way
toward assuring compliance with the law.
While satisfied customers generally mean repeat business, price errors that stem from
haphazard or inefficient pricing practices can cost stores money. For one thing, the
dollar amount of undercharges often exceeds the dollar amount of the overcharges. For
another, it is against the law to charge more than the advertised shelf price. Stores that
do may be subject to civil and criminal fines.
The Federal Trade Commission and the National Conference on Weights and Measures say it
can be relatively easy to improve pricing practices -- and in the process, boost customer
satisfaction, your bottom line and compliance with the law. Here are their step-by-step
suggestions:
Develop written procedures for all forms of pricing activity in your
store. Include ways to ensure that the price in the store's computer matches the posted or
advertised price. Remember that your customer expects to receive the lowest price posted
or advertised.
Develop training programs for store employees that stress your
commitment to accurate pricing.
Designate a pricing coordinator for your store.
Give one employee responsibility for the accuracy of prices of all
Direct Sale Delivery items. Make sure DSD vendors check with the pricing coordinator
before they do any pricing.
Check prices of a random sample of items - 50 or so - every day to
ensure that the price in the store's computer matches the posted or advertised price. Use
the NCWM price verification procedure.
Make sure prices in every aisle, section or area of the store are
checked several times a year. This is the only way you will find all of the undercharges.
Have the inventory audit team conduct a pricing audit while they're
doing an inventory audit.
Use hand-held scanners to speed price audits. Your wholesaler may be
able to provide them.
Use a portable label printer during price audits to immediately replace
incorrect or missing shelf labels.
Offer your customers a reward if they are overcharged. Giving one item
free (up to a maximum dollar value) to any customer who correctly reports an overcharge
builds customer loyalty and support.
Contact trade associations for how-to manuals on pricing accuracy. Food
Marketing Institute at www.fmi.org; 800 Connecticut Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20006;
202-452-8444. National Retail Federation at www.nrf.com; 325 Seventh St., NW., Washington,
DC 20004; 202-783-7971.
Contact your local weights and measures officials for information about
inspection procedures and pricing laws. For a copy of the price verification procedure
adopted in 1995, contact: National Conference on Weights and Measures at www.nist.gov/owm;
15245 Shady Grove Road, Suite 130, Rockville, MD 20850; 301-258-9210.
Encourage your trade association or wholesaler to set up an industry
monitoring program. Contact the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association at
scancert@aol.com; P.O. Box 870, Camp Hill, PA 17001-0870, 717-731-0600 for information
about its scanning certification program. Or visit them at
www.pfma.org.
For More Information
The FTC works for the consumer to
prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the
marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and
avoid them. To file a
complaint or to get free information
on consumer issues, visit
www.ftc.gov or
call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The
FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft and other fraud-related
complaints into
Consumer Sentinel, a
secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law
enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
|
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION |
FOR THE CONSUMER |
1-877-FTC-HELP |
www.ftc.gov |
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December
1998 |