Stores Try Fixed Prices That Aren't So Fixed

摘要

Nebraska Furniture Mart used to dispatch an army of employees each morning to update printed price labels throughout its stores, a time-consuming effort to maintain its pledge to offer the lowest prices on televisions, dishwashers, sofas, and flooring. But following a big investment in digital-price displays that began in 2011, a single worker can now quickly update the chain's prices on thousands of products in all four of its locations to beat the latest offers from Home Depot, Sears, and other rivals. "If we have a TV for $1,200 and Amazon has it for $900, customers are going to say, 'What the heck, your prices are not the lowest,'" says David Bash, chief information officer at Nebraska Furniture Mart, a Berkshire Hathaway-owned chain that has stores in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Texas. "These electronic shelf tags are not just here to look pretty. They're here to make sure you get the best deal."