The average shopper can't remember a time when fixed prices weren't the norm. After all, it's been well over a century since rounds of haggling was the way goods and services changed hands. Fixed prices were introduced in the early 1800s as an attractive new feature that could save consumers time, money, and emotional energy, and were a great benefit to merchants, too.
普通购买者已经想不起来从什么时候开始固定价格就已经不再是行规了。毕竟，货物和服务交易讨价还价是将近一个多世纪以前的事了。固定价格在19世纪早期引进，作为节省顾客时间、金钱和情感能量的新兴方式，同样也给商人带来了好处。

The benefits stuck, even in an era of e-commerce when consumers assume online stores offer lower prices without brick and mortar overhead and when comparison shopping is easier than ever.
这种好处依旧存在，哪怕是在这样一个在线商务时代，消费者认为在线商店提供的价格更低廉，因为不存在装修店面的开销，而且比较购物比以往更为便捷。

However, a new startup called PriceWaiter is bringing haggling back to e-commerce, and it's bringing a refreshingly human element to the online marketplace. The approach also highlights three behavioral economics concepts that play a big role in selling goods online:
然而，一家叫做PriceWaiter的新兴公司把讨价还价又带回电子商务中，给在线商场带来了新鲜人性化的元素。这一方式同样强调了在在线商品销售中起着重要作用的3个行为经济学的理念：

Personalization
个性化

PriceWaiter allows merchants to offer a personalized price in addition to their usual fixed price. Customers can add an item to their shopping cart, pay, and ship like normal. Or, if customers don't want to pay the fixed price, they can simply click the PriceWaiter button and make an offer. The merchant accepts, counteroffers, or rejects that offer, and then customers can complete the purchase in a few clicks straight from their email.
PriceWaiter允许商家在固定价格之外提供个性化的价格。消费者可以正常将货物添加到购物车，付款，运输。或者，如果消费者不想要支付固定价格，他们可以访问PriceWaiter下订单。商家接受、还价或者是拒绝订单，然后消费者可以从邮件中通过几步点击成功购买。

It's a shopping experience defined by the needs of the individual, a natural extension of increasingly personalized marketing campaigns tailored by online data collected by companies like Facebook and Google.
这是由个人需求决定的购物体验，是像脸书和谷歌这样的公司收集的数据定制的个性化的市场营销日益增长的自然延伸。

Connection
联系

Not only do merchants interact heavily with customers and their data leading up to the sale, they can now maintain that same level of connection during the sale. Co-founder Andrew Scarbrough explains, "It slows people down and makes them more engaged shoppers."
不仅仅商家和消费者以及他们的导向销售的数据紧密相关，他们现在可以在销售中也保持同等的联系。公司创始人安德烈•斯卡布勒说：“这使得人们减慢速度，更多地参与到购物中来。”

PriceWaiter engages shoppers by offering them a unique opportunity to set their price, as well as a higher degree of interaction with the brand, on-site. Best of all, that interaction is a true dialogue, rather than a unilateral arrangement.
PriceWaiter通过提供独一无二的机会来现场决定价格，还有和品牌更高的互动性，让消费者们参与进来。最棒的是，这种互动是真正的双方对话，而不是单边协议。

Humanization
人性化

In an age when brands increasingly view advertising as a conversation, PriceWaiter offers a way to humanize the actual purchase process as well.
在品牌逐渐把广告看做沟通的时代，PriceWaiter做到把采购过程也人性化了。

As fast and effortless as fixed prices are, they also remove the human element that is part of why haggling can be an exhilarating experience. Negotiating the price in, say, a traditional Turkish bazaar lets the seller express pride in the craftsmanship and quality of the goods he sells. It allows the buyer to express their needs and pain points. As efficient as fixed prices can be, they eliminate that process of communication. PriceWaiter has found a way to add it back into the shopping experience without sacrificing convenience.
固定价格快捷不费劲，但它们同样去除了人为因素。而这一因素是讨价还价为何令人振奋的原因。讨价还价在传统的土耳其集市上让卖家表明他们对自己销售的产品工艺和质量的自豪。它也能让买家表达自己的需求和难处。尽管固定价格十分高效，但它们消除了交流的过程。PriceWaiter找到了把它加回购物体验中而不会造成不便的方法。

That human element is crucial for building trust, which online retailers need to establish to get the customer to actually make a purchase. A 2003 study in Psychology & Marketing showed that trust-building was crucial for online retailers, especially those who were less-well-known and didn't have as much brand cache. Features that reduced risk and gave the customer a sense of control, such as security encryption or money-back guarantees were found to lower perceived risk and encourage the customer to go through with the purchase.
人为因素对建立信任十分重要。在线零售商需要建立信任让消费者真的决定购买。2003一份心理学和营销学的研究表明，建立信任对在线零售商十分关键，尤其是那些不那么知名也没有很多品牌库存的商家。研究发现例如安全加密或者是退款保证能减少风险，给消费者一种可掌控感受的特色能降低感知风险，鼓励消费者完成购买。

Personalized pricing is a similarly risk-reducing feature, allowing the customer to use their knowledge from comparison shopping and their brand preferences in their favor. They aren't forced to make a decision from price alone, but can make an offer to their preferred retailer. The retailer in turn can decide if the discount is worth the extra business they may have missed out on if the customer had chosen to go to a different site, or pass on the purchase entirely.
个性化的标价也是相似的低风险标志，允许消费者使用通过对比较购物和个人偏好的品牌的认知。他们不会被迫只靠价格就作出决定，而是能向他们喜欢的零售商讨价还价。同样，零售商能够决定这样的折扣是不是值得再做一笔生意。如果消费者选择了另一家网站或者完全放弃购买，他们可能就错过了这笔生意。

Scarbrough explained that many PriceWaiter offers ask for just a 10 percent discount, something easy for most retailers to swallow, and that can add up for major savings for the consumer on big-ticket items like furniture.
斯卡布勒解释说，很多PriceWaiter的订单只要求9折，这对大部分零售商都可以接受，消费者也能在像家具这种大额物品上省下更多的费用。

Even a small discount can build trust, loyalty, and increase a customer's probability of purchase, reducing their resistance and increasing consumer confidence.
哪怕很小的折扣也可以建立起信任、忠诚以及增加消费者购买的可能性，减少他们的抗拒心理，增加信心。

Simply by humanizing the sale process to match native advertising campaigns and friendly social media engagement, retailers can increase profitable sales and satisfaction.
仅仅靠人性化销售过程，与本地广告营销和友善的社交媒体参与相匹配，零售商就可以增加销售利润和满意度。