
Sort Prices From High to Low
Price Design
Sort Prices From High to Low
Initial prices become a baseline for comparison, so the subsequent prices seem cheaper.
How should you arrange products?
Over an 8-week span, researchers alternated the sequence of beer prices on a menu. Revenue was highest with high-to-low sorting (Suk et al., 2012).

Why It Works
- Higher Reference Price. Customers who see a $9 beer evaluate other beers against this price.

- Loss Aversion. Customers who see a $4 beer then $5 beer are gradually losing the ability to pay a lower price. They feel pressured to pounce on a cheaper beer while they're still cheap. But a decreasing sequence has the reverse effect: Customers who see a $5 beer then $4 beer are losing quality, so they pounce on a quality option.
Caveats
- Left to Right. Numbers get larger as they move from left to right, so high-to-low sorting in horizontal layouts can feel manipulative. Instead, try distinguishing a higher price (e.g., different color) so that customers view this expensive option first, triggering the same effect as sorting.
- Suk, K., Lee, J., & Lichtenstein, D. R. (2012). The influence of price presentation order on consumer choice. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(5), 708-717.

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