Taste of your own medicine

We went to a night market. There was a vendor selling dry fruits. I had never seen macadamia nuts before. My better half said that they are very good for health. We asked the price; it was some 500 INR. So, we thought about it for a while, it’s was more costly compared to the ones that we usually pick. Then we had our usual discussion, do we need it, what all is left at home that we need to finish first?

The usual chat that one has before making up their mind for an expensive impulse purchase. And then we saw a smaller packet kept next to it which said 200. So, we instantly picked that, paid the lady and left.

As we walked a few steps, I got a feeling that something happened there. Basically, the seller never intended to sell the 500 one. At least not to everyone, but kept the smaller one next to the more expensive and bigger packet that catches your eye first. It makes the smaller one look like a bargain.

So we buy the cheaper one thinking that it’s not that expensive. But kept alone would have never picked it up, as it was not cheap by any means.

It’s called the contrast principle described in Robert Cialdini’s book on Influence.

I realized something in that moment, sometimes all it takes is a humble street vendor to give us a taste of our own medicine :)