I was reading a very interesting article by McKinsey about the value proposition to offer to multichannel retail customers: it does not only competitive price but also the degree of trust they have in a retailer, its product assortment, and their previous buying experiences. The article goes on presenting two exhibits, both related to a U.S. based research whose results I think can be easily applied to many other other Western culture countries. 

Essentially, what McKinsey researchers state is that:
– multichannel retailers can use certain pricing moves to play the value card, applied to key value items, priced competitively to create a public perception that a retailer offers good value across the many retail channels a consumer uses: stores, the Web, or catalogs;
-retailers also can carefully craft product assortments in ways that influence value perceptions;
– value “heroes” with low price points should be overrepresented in online, in-store, and external marketing;
– tactics such as free shipping, in-store pickup, generous return policies, and price-match guarantees are critical drivers of value perceptions.