Should I show a price inc P&P or +P&P?

[FutureRichardBranson]

I have a low value (<£10) product and I think I will charge £1.40 P&P. This will cover postage costs and the cost of the box, plus a few pence for anything unexpected.

Lets say the product costs £7. £1.40 is quite a bit more, so is it best to show the price as:

£7 + £1.40 P&P

or

£8.40 + FREE SHIPPING!

Which gets your more excited? Is it best to advertise as £7 then mention the P&P costs on the product page (gets the customer interested by the lower price but potentially puts them off when they find out there is a P&P charge), or to advertise as £8.40 with free shipping (Higher cost will put people off but free shipping makes them excited because of the word 'Free')??

The price I will charge is already a high price for the type of product, but it's the way I will provide it that should justify that cost. I don't want my product/service to be a cheap and cheerful one, but more of a higher price but higher quality feel. A bit premium instead of cheap, if you know what I mean (even though it's a tiny price when you think of the word 'premium'!)

 

[10032012]

Is £1.40 pie-in-the-sky, or have you budgeted for materials and postage?

 

[FutureRichardBranson]

Is £1.40 pie-in-the-sky, or have you budgeted for materials and postage?

What do you mean by pie in the sky?

Postage will be £1.20 (Royal Mail Large Letter <200g)
+ Box (roughly 20p)
And a label which will cost pence
That's how I worked it out so far.

 

[10032012]

What do you mean by pie in the sky?

I mean did you think that is how much it would cost at an online retailer (who might subsidise postage with the item price) or did you work it out yourself.

Have your sourced the box?

 

[FutureRichardBranson]

I mean did you think that is how much it would cost at an online retailer (who might subsidise postage with the item price) or did you work it out yourself.

Have your sourced the box?

I did some googling and found they are about 20-30p a box. I have just thought though I may be able to get away with padded envelopes which are cheaper. That would cost about £0.15p a packet.

 

[10032012]

Is that including VAT and delivery?

At 30p a box you are operating the postage at a loss, just ensure you have enough margin on the product to allow this.

 

[FutureRichardBranson]

Is that including VAT and delivery?

At 30p a box you are operating the postage at a loss, just ensure you have enough margin on the product to allow this.

Inc VAT but not delivery. I have also found postage bags which will be suitable (as the product is not fragile) which are about 6p.

I kinda need to go to a shop to have a look what they look like and find out what is best.

However my original question still stands- include it or don't include it

 

[SolutionLab]

This suggests to go for free shipping but it will depend on a case by case basis - don't trust statistics too much. However, if you do, there is always more

 

[Mayor]

Why did this start to become a complicated issue ?

The question was :

£7 + £1.40 P&P

or

£8.40 + FREE SHIPPING!

Me ? The first one. There's no such thing as "free", the postage charge seems reasonable and honest.

I don't give a crap how much it does/doesn't cost you, you've quoted the price, if I want it and am prepared to pay your rate, then job done. Sometimes we're all quilty of over-thinking things..

 

[14Steve14]

You don't seem to over inflating the P&P costs so I would keep them separate and use the low P&P costs to your marketing advantage. You may also save money on postage by having a chat with RM if you have the volume.

 

[10032012]

This suggests to go for free shipping but it will depend on a case by case basis - don't trust statistics too much. However, if you do, there is always more

I checked out the second link and its very suspect advice...

When it comes to social, focus on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter

These are the three main social media websites - surely its common sense.

When comparing the average value of a visitor from Facebook (22 cents) with the average value of a visitor from Twitter (5 cents),

OK, so first its american... completely different market. Average value 5 cents from twitter? is it worth even bothering? I don't think its a good metric to divide income by visitors. I am sure if you took this into account for organic search that Google more times than not will have a relatively low value-per-visitor - doesn't mean you should not focus on Google.

65% of mobile traffic to e-commerce sites comes from the iPhone and iPad

Ahh... the guest poster is an apple fanboy. Despite all Apple products using effectively the same OS built from open-source software (with that arrogant premium added on the top of products for the privilege).

Well to recap, its a different market... the numbers of social media users, Googles market share, peoples behaviour and attitudes; all varies on different countries. Furthermore, they never cited the research, its all pie-in-the-sky figures. Even the editor of the site raised doubts about it.

 

[Moneyman]

1) your postage is cheap so show post and packing next to the item. make sure that it is obvious that they wont pay more if they order more than one. Say what class it is that you are sending. ie first or second.
2) always offer a next day delivery at cost plus. This shows how cheap the other option is and notifies the people that they can get it quickly. The big selling point with amazon is that they can normally get stuff quickly and you don't want doubt that the present or the wire to get your pc working etc might take a week to arrive.
3) gift items should always have a gift wrap/box option.