The book Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shells is divided into two parts. The first part analyses low prices from a psychological and cognitive perspective. Why are we attracted to low prices? How do we react? and so on. The second part analyses the reason for low prices, the implications, and the costs. The two parts are loosely connected. As a reader, the impression is to switch to a different book by a different author. While the first part seeks to provide an objective, scientific perspective on the problem, the second part takes a very strong position. While I agree with most of the ideas proposed by the book, I’m a bit uncomfortable with this unusual way of mixing opinions and data.
The book also ignores the price mechanism and the psychology of online pricing. Ellen doesn’t even try to analyze the differences between the traditional buying process and the new, and I assume different, online process. As a professional in e-commerce, I purchased this book hoping to find exactly this type of analysis. I also believe the psychological mechanisms activated by online shopping and purchasing (e.g., on Amazon.com) differ from those governing traditional retail shopping and purchasing (e.g., Walmart).