Ms.

My negotiation took place at Famous Footwear, a shoe store in the local mall in East Brunswick, New Jersey, on the last day of Fall Break (Monday). I walked into the store with the intention of purchasing a few pairs of fall/winter shoes, particularly formal shoes for interviews. After looking around and finding my Ў°targetЎ± pair of professional black pumps, regularly priced at $79.99, my goal was cut the price in half through a combination of flinching, nibbling and aggregating (BP 1) with the sales manager, Paul.

Initially, I was not sure what I could bargain about, since I seemed to be the one with less leverageЎЄmy desire to purchase shoes before returning to school was time-sensitive. However, I had significant normative leverage in: 1) appealing to my position as the customer in an arena, where the highest standard is one that upholds customer loyalty and 2) noting that stores do not like to keep inventory for too long, which results in discount items. I also remembered from Bargaining for Advantage that one of the best guards is to negotiate with someone who cares about future relationships with you. The type of deal seemed to fall in between Tacit Coordination and Relationship (BFA Ch.9). Upon second thought, despite his desires to sell at a high price, the sales manager and I did have common grounds to start the negotiation process. Another bargaining chip that I held, which was more happenstance than strategic, was the number of other shoes I intended to buy. I already picked out three other pairs of shoes from Famous FootwearЎЇs Ў°ClearanceЎ± rack. One pair was the same brand (Connie) and of similar material to my target pumps, priced at $39.99. Nonetheless, because I was so willing to buy my shoes at his store, my selection signaled Ў°reciprocityЎ± to Paul. I hoped that it would make him more willing to bend on the price of my fourth pair of shoes and for him to classify me as potential loyal, long-term customer.

I planned how I was going to present my argument while waiting in line. I decided to allow him to scan my other items and save the $79.99 shoes for last, as the lower-prices could serve as anchors. I set his expectations, so that he believed all my shoes came from the Ў°ClearanceЎ± rack. Meanwhile, I could engage in friendly small talk about how it was great to be back home for Fall Break with Paul while he scanned. I also mentioned how great I felt about all the bargains at his store that day. Surely, when he scanned the black pumps, I flinched (literally and strategically) and exclaimed that I had thought they were the same price as the other ConnieЎЇs due to their similarities. He smiled apologetically and said that they were