Understanding how to leverage the various price fields in your BigCommerce store can be a game changer with how you set prices, implement strategic promotions, and ultimately boost your sales. This walk through of the various BigCommerce pricing fields and how to use them can help set your store up for eCommerce success.
Default Price Field
The base of your BigCommerce pricing strategy is the Default Price field. It’s prominently displayed in both the Basic Information and Pricing sections in your control panel when adding or editing products. This price applies by default to all product variants as they are created. However, BigCommerce offers the flexibility to assign a unique default price to each variant within the Variants table.
Your Default Price should be based on competitive research to determine the standard market price for your products. This research should include factors like brand reputation, product quality, and competitor offerings. It’s also crucial to ensure your default price allows for a healthy profit margin. Be sure to set your default price to align with your brand. If your store is based around premium products and a higher level of customer service, a higher default price might be suitable. On the other hand, a lower default price attracts budget-conscious customers.
BigCommerce allows you to go beyond the basic Default Price by offering a few Advanced Pricing features accessible through the “Show Advanced Pricing” option. These advanced options provide greater control over pricing for both the base product and its variants.
Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) Field
One such feature is the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). This field allows you to display the recommended selling price provided by your product’s supplier. Using the MSRP in a way to show value can be a great marketing strategy! Shoppers often perceive a product with a higher MSRP to be of better quality. Displaying a lower default price compared to the MSRP can build trust and encourage sales. Additionally, when your default price is lower than the MSRP, the MSRP appears with a strike-through on product pages and thumbnails. This emphasizes the savings offered, leading to increased sales.
Sale Price Field
Everyone loves sales, and the Sale Price field allows you to set temporary price reductions for promotions and flash sales. The Sale Price overrides the Default Price and displays a strike-through on the item’s default price. This grabs customer attention and drives sales during your promotions.
There are some things to keep in mind, however. Excessive use of sale prices can erode brand value and customer perception. Having a store where the majority of items are always on sale is not a good look. Sales should be well-planned, executed, and time-based for that sense of urgency and to keep your sales fresh and up-to-date. Additionally, make sure your pricing is simple and easy to understand. In other words, avoid confusing customers with multiple price displays.
Cost Price Field
The Cost Price field, although not visible to customers, can play a role in managing your business profitability. It allows you to record the cost of each product in your store’s backend. This information can be used for calculating your profit margin and setting competitive prices. By subtracting the Cost Price from your Default Price, you can easily determine your profit margin for each product. This helps you with pricing strategies and allows you to identify areas where you can improve your pricing to remain competitive.
To utilize Cost Price effectively, maintain accurate cost price records to ensure precise profit margin calculations. Update these records regularly to reflect any changes in your costs. Later on in this article, we’ll discuss how you can easily update the Cost Price field using a CSV file.
Tips For Using Pricing Fields to Your Advantage
BigCommerce’s pricing features are designed to work together to boost your business. By combining different pricing fields and approaches, you can create a comprehensive pricing strategy tailored for your business goals. Here’s how you can do this:
- Conduct thorough market research to set competitive default prices for your products. You should be monitoring your competitors on a regular basis and adjusting pricing to stay competitive.
- Watch for sales trends. If you suddenly see an item or items that sales have dropped on, check your pricing to make sure that your pricing is still competitive. Chances are you’re not!
- If available, display the MSRP strategically to highlight price reductions and build customer trust.
- Use Sale Prices for targeted promotions and limited-time offers to generate sales excitement and don’t over use them.
- Maintain accurate cost price data to calculate profit margins and identify areas for pricing optimization.
By mastering these BigCommerce pricing tools, you gain the power to set competitive prices, create compelling promotions, and ultimately grow your sales.
How to Easily Update Prices in Your BigCommerce Store
As a BigCommerce Elite Developer Partner, Your Store Wizards offers a full suite of free and premium tools to help store owners manage their store more efficiently. One of these is our Price Updater, and it’s the perfect tool to help you take advantage of all the different price fields in BigCommerce.
To use it, all you need to do is create a CSV file that contains a column for the item SKU and one for each of the price fields you want to update. Our tool supports all the price fields including:
- Default Price
- Sale Price
- Retail Price (MSRP)
- Cost Price
By using this tool, you can keep all your price fields up-to-date quickly and easily.
Remember, a well-defined pricing strategy is a key part of every successful eCommerce business. So be sure to leverage BigCommerce’s features and our Price Updater tool to your advantage.
Scott Sanfilippo began his eCommerce journey in 1994 by co-founding one of the Internet’s first online retailers, TheFerretStore.com, which was acquired by PetCo in 2006. In 2001, he co-founded the eCommerce design and marketing firm Solid Cactus, which was acquired by web.com in 2009. Today, Scott is the General Manager of Your Store Wizards and lives in Delray Beach, FL. Scott can be contacted at scott@yourstorewizards.com.