This article suggests that customers are more likely to buy something when the price ends in 99. It is based on a study where French researchers demonstrated how lowering the price of a pizza from 8.00 euros to 7.99 euros boosted sale by 15%. The team of researchers studied more than 1,200 customers in a pizzeria. The menu included five pizzas alongside other meat and fish dishes. In the first week of the experiment the pizzas were all priced at 8.00 euros. In the second week the Pizza Valencia was dropped to 7.99 euros with the others remaining at the original price and in the last week all the pizzas were reduced to 7.99 euros. When the prices were identical 35% of customers opted for the Pizza Valencia but this increased to nearly half of customers when the price was dropped. In the final stage of the test there was no difference in sales between the five pizzas. Researchers also found that the 99 effect appears to work when customers are choosing between similar items and often pay less attention to the end of the price.
