In the old days - Ok many years ago - Right...some time back, the price of an article used to be dropped by 1 or a few cents in the stores mainly as a check to force the cashier to give change out. It was a trick to try and bypass the pocketing of money by those lining their own pockets. I have often wondered whether this original reason for reducing the price also got the consumer into seeing a different cheaper price. How often do you get people rounding things down? Especially when asked by the husband as to what those shoes cost.....oh I digress.

I like things to be simple - R100 rounded off to R100 is simple is it not? But does R99 make it 'cheaper' and would this sway your choice as to which supplier you would buy from? Being bad at maths also helps the simple solution. I mean, how much does 2 of those things cost at R99? I know the answer straight away when its R100 - but R99? Give me the R100 story -I can work with that. But apparently most people..well ok 50%.. can either do maths or they see the cheaper angle.

In a huge study (well it was huge for them, I am sure) of this phenomenon, it has been 'proved' that the 99cent option is good for business Check it out here.

What do think about this? Is it just a cheap (pun intended) trick or does the average consumer see life differently to me?