Your Customer Isn’t Just Asking, “How Much Does It Cost?”

Retailers have good reason to pay close attention to price. Consumers have spent the past several years navigating inflation, higher household costs, economic uncertainty, and increasingly deliberate spending decisions. Promotions, discounts, private-label products, and competitive pricing all remain important parts of the retail Playbook.

But price does not tell the whole story of how consumers decide what is worth buying. BCG’s 2026 consumer research found that 67% of consumers would choose not to purchase something they could afford if they did not perceive enough value in it. In BCG’s analysis, perceived value was actually a stronger predictor of purchase than affordability.

That distinction changes the conversation for retailers. The question isn’t simply whether customers can afford the price. It is whether everything they receive in exchange feels worth paying it.

Affordability and Value Are Not the Same Thing

A customer can look at a $100 product, have $100 available to spend, and still decide the product isn’t worth $100. Another customer may willingly spend more than expected because something about the product or experience creates enough additional value to justify it.

That is why competing primarily on price can become limiting. Lowering the price may make a purchase more affordable, but it doesn’t necessarily make the retailer, product, or experience more valuable. If customers can find a comparable product elsewhere with greater convenience, better service, more confidence in the purchase, or an easier experience, the lowest price may not be enough to win.

BCG’s research suggests consumers are making increasingly sophisticated calculations about value. Price is part of that calculation, but so are quality, convenience, trust, experience, and the amount of time and effort required to make the purchase.

Retailers that understand those other factors have more ways to compete.

Convenience Has Become Part of What Customers Buy

BCG found that 77% of consumers value products and services that reduce friction in their lives. That is particularly important in retail, where a customer’s experience can include searching for a product, comparing options, determining availability, making the purchase, receiving or picking up the item, and potentially returning it.

Every unnecessary complication takes something from the Value Exchange.

A customer who can immediately determine whether an item is available may value that certainty. Someone who can order online and pick up conveniently may value the time saved. Another customer may choose a retailer because returns are easy, employees can answer questions, or the shopping experience makes it easier to choose between several similar products.

Those conveniences can be difficult to see on a price tag, but customers experience them. In a marketplace where competing products may be only a click away, reducing friction can become as much a part of the product as the item being purchased.

More Choice Can Actually Make Shopping Harder

Retailers have spent years expanding access to products and information. Consumers can compare brands, read reviews, research specifications, watch demonstrations, search competitors, browse social media, and move between physical and digital stores before making a decision.

More information should theoretically create a better-informed customer. It can also create an overwhelmed one.

BCG reports that 43% of consumers feel mentally overwhelmed by information overload. That creates another opportunity for retailers to add value—not necessarily by offering customers more choices, but by helping them make sense of the choices they already have.

Expertise can become valuable here. So can thoughtful merchandising, useful recommendations, knowledgeable employees, clear product information, personalization, and technology that helps narrow rather than expand the decision. A retailer that helps someone confidently make the right purchase may create more value than one that simply presents thousands of possibilities.

Sometimes the better retail experience isn’t the one with the most options. It is the one that makes choosing easier.

The Store Still Has a Job to Do

The growth of ecommerce created years of speculation about whether physical stores would eventually become less important. Instead, the role of the store is evolving.

If customers can complete a basic transaction online, a physical location has to offer reasons for them to spend the additional time and effort required to visit. That does not mean every retailer needs elaborate entertainment or a store designed primarily to generate social-media content. It means the physical environment should create value that is difficult to reproduce through a screen.

Experiential retail is increasingly moving in that direction. Demonstrations, classes, consultations, opportunities to test products, personalized assistance, community events, and hands-on experiences can allow customers to interact with a product or brand in ways ecommerce cannot easily replicate.

McKinsey’s consumer research provides useful context for that shift. From 2023 through 2025, the global market for experiences grew 2.6%, compared with just 0.8% for nonessential goods. Consumers continue to demonstrate a willingness to spend when they believe the experience itself is meaningful or worth their time.

For retailers, that doesn’t mean every store needs to become an event. It means leaders should be clear about what additional value the physical store creates.

Value Looks Different to Different Customers

One of the challenges of retail is that there is no single formula for value. A customer rushing home from work may prioritize speed and convenience. Someone making an expensive purchase may value expertise and reassurance. Another shopper may want discovery, personalization, social interaction, or the ability to touch and compare products before deciding.

This is why retailers can get into trouble when they define value entirely from inside the business. An organization may be proud of a feature, service, promotion, or experience that customers simply don’t care about enough to influence their decision.

Walter Bond’s teaching around Value Exchange offers a useful way to examine that relationship. Every transaction involves an exchange, but the customer determines whether the value received justifies what they are being asked to give. And what they give isn’t limited to money. Customers also give their time, attention, effort, information, and trust.

The retailer’s job is not simply to extract the transaction. It is to make the exchange feel worthwhile.

Price Promotions Can’t Fix a Weak Value Exchange

Discounting is one of the fastest ways to influence consumer behavior. It can move inventory, attract attention, create urgency, and give price-conscious customers a reason to purchase.

But discounting can also become a habit. When sales slow, another promotion appears. When competitors reduce prices, the retailer responds. Over time, customers can learn to wait for the next discount, and the business can find itself giving up margin without strengthening the reasons customers choose it in the first place.

A stronger Value Exchange gives retailers more levers to pull. Better service can create value. Easier shopping can create value. Exclusive products, expertise, personalization, loyalty benefits, quality, convenience, trust, and memorable experiences can all influence what a customer believes a purchase is worth.

Price remains important, particularly when household budgets are under pressure. The strategic mistake is assuming that because customers care about price, price is all they care about.

Listen to What the Customer Is Actually Valuing

Consumer behavior changes, and the definition of value changes with it. A service that once felt exceptional can become expected. A convenience customers barely considered five years ago can become a reason they abandon a purchase today. Technology can remove friction in one part of the experience while creating entirely new expectations somewhere else.

Retailers therefore have to keep listening. Transaction data can show what customers bought, but organizations also need to understand why customers chose them, why they walked away, what frustrated them, what made the experience easier, and what they would miss if the retailer disappeared tomorrow.

That information should influence the Playbook. If customers increasingly value convenience, leaders should identify where unnecessary friction exists. If expertise creates differentiation, the Roster needs the knowledge and training to deliver it. If physical stores are part of the strategy, those stores need a clear role beyond simply holding inventory customers could order online.

Value is not a slogan the retailer defines. It is a judgment the customer makes.

Compete on More Than the Price Tag

Retail will always involve price competition. Consumers will compare prices, promotions will influence purchases, and retailers will need to make difficult decisions about margins and affordability.

But the businesses that understand value have more ways to earn the customer than simply being cheaper.

They can save time. Reduce uncertainty. Make decisions easier. Provide expertise. Create confidence. Offer an experience worth leaving home for. Solve a problem competitors overlook. Make a complicated purchase feel simple.

The strongest retailers understand what their customers are actually giving and what they expect to receive in return. When that Value Exchange is strong, price becomes an important part of the decision without having to become the entire reason for it.

Your customer may be asking, How much does it cost? But the question behind it is often much more important:

Is this worth it?