#palessi

For many years I have taught my students that price is often used as a surrogate indicator of product quality. The thinking is that the two go hand-in-hand, that if it costs more, it just has to be better.

Of course, there are exceptions, and I always remember to toss in that the law of diminishing returns usually sets in at some point, that consumers begin paying disproportionately more for disproportionately less consumer benefit at the margin.

It is these truths that prompted beleaguered shoe retailer Payless to deploy an epic prank in Santa Monica. Known for its inexpensive shoes, Payless opened a shop called Palessi (Paylessey...Get it? No? OK, never mind) stocked with the same shoes it sells for $20-$40 down the street, but instead jacked the prices up 10-15 times. Voila! Fabulous footwear!

And the customers loved it.

Shoppers were interviewed and quoted as saying they thought the shoes were of exceptional quality, admiring the styling and other attributes that suddenly became bragging points at those price levels. When you pay $600 for shoes, you expect to be able to wear them not just to protect your feet or look fashionable, but also as a badge reflecting your good taste and wealth. “Oh, my favorite Italian cobbler just got in a small shipment of these beauties. I think he’s all out now. So sorry.”

And when you get those same shoes for $40, you keep your mouth shut.

While Payless came clean after the stunt, and refunded customer money, it shows that customers can be very gullible, and in particular, those who can afford extravagances. That Payless was able to pull this off so easily demonstrates there may something about the insecurities of the rich and their perceived need to buy praise and admiration.

Which is another way of saying that maybe Payless should ditch the old brand, and just come out as Palessi with both guns blazing. Forget the lower-income crowd who need cheap shoes; there’s gold in them thar rich people’s pockets.

I have seen similar tactics used in restaurants, where price and serving portion are typically inverse in relation. It’s all about the presentation of the food on a plate, and the fancy name given to it. Make it look artsy, season with a few foreign words, drizzle some balsamic, then spread lofty terms like “artisanal,” “organic,” and “vegan,” and you can easily charge double for half the portion. Or, you can get a ton of plain Jane comfort food for next to nothing at a big chain.

Don’t believe me? See how much comfort food you can get for $10 at Cracker Barrel or Chili’s, and get back to me.

Although some people, notably some who had been duped, were rather miffed about it all, everyone else seems to think it is rather funny, if not also kind of revealing into the psyche of American consumerism. I’m also betting that some of the folks who normally shop at Payless found it hysterical. Poetic justice was served, but...thankfully...recalled in the end.

Just don’t always assume that a high price means it’s going to be good. Because what you are buying is often just going to your head.

Dr “If The Shoe Fits“ Gerlich

If you have not already heard about the Payless Shoes experiment - PLEASE check it out!

This cracks me up so much because it goes to show that Fashion - just like many other things in life - is totally subjective and it does not truly matter what the big opinions of high fashion have to say because at the end of the day they’re full of it just as much as the next person. 

I actually think it’s awesome that Payless did this - a brilliant social experiment. Good fashion does not have to put you in the poor house - it goes back to the notion that one person’s treasure is another person’s trash.