Convenient coincidence... Companies trying to increase their profits and get the maximum valueout of their scarcity are interested in who is "willing" to pay more, rather than who can"afford" to pay more.
There are three common strategies for finding customers who are cavalier about price.
The first is what economists call 'first degree price discrimination', or the 'unique target'strategy.
The second approach, the 'group target' strategy, which is to offer different prices to membersof distinct groups. Who could complain about reduced bus fares for children and the elderly?
The third way: turkeys voting for Christmas
The cleverest and most common way to persuade turkeys to vote for Christmas is the 'self-incrimination' strategy - the one Costa Coffee and Starbucks both use when they persuade someof their customers into confessing that they are not sensitive to price.
It is safe to say that companies are always alert for ways to squeeze the maximum advantage out of whatever scarcity power they have, and price-targeting is the most common way to do that.
So we have good reason to believe that coffee bars try for a 'self-targeting' strategy,charging high prices to customers who demonstrate a willingness to pay them.
