Nice Price, No Availability
We noticed a few weeks back that our Panasonic microwave and DeWalt portable generator both dipped in price at certain retailers right around the time they went out of stock.
Even now, the microwave remains priced at $339.95 at Walmart—$60 below the offer at Abt Electronics—yet it’s unavailable for purchase. The generator? Home Depot lists it at $1,015—$20 less than at Zoro and, here again, you can not buy it at that price.
Shervin Koushan, the founder of the price tracking app AnyTracker, says he’s observed this pattern frequently enough to think it’s a deliberate tactic. “It can create the perception of a good deal and draw traffic,” he says, “even when there’s nothing to buy.”
A marginally lower price can improve a retailer’s ranking on hypercompetitive shopping and search engines, he says, helping it edge out rivals for valuable visits, clicks, and, ultimately, dollars.
It can also encourage customers to sign up for back-in-stock alerts, says Julian Johann, head of the Amazon price-tracking tool Keepa. That invites retailers to send you more marketing communications.
Promotional pricing strategies are nothing new, of course. Doorbuster deals on limited-supply products have been a big Black Friday draw at brick-and-mortar retailers for years. But online shopping—and the fierce competition for search engine dominance—have made it more commonplace. These days, you’ll often see prices ending in .99, .98, and .97.
We reached out to Home Depot and Walmart to ask about the swings in price on items that weren’t available. Home Depot has not yet responded. We did hear from Walmart, though.
The price shifts we saw on the unavailable Panasonic microwave were entered by a third-party seller on the Walmart site, according to company spokesperson Camille Dunn. Like Amazon, Walmart allows third-party sellers to list items on its site, but the company doesn’t set the price or control the inventory for such items. According to Dunn, Walmart itself avoids steep flash sales and frequent price jockeying on items it offers directly.
