The Superstition Of Numbers

The Superstition Of Numbers
2006.11.22 3:02

$3.99, $4.99...Indeed many goods are rarely sold by just $4, $5 exact. In Japan the products are usually sold 398 yen, 498 yen, etc. Eight is used instead of 9.
One supermarket was merged from America capital and they started using 399 yen, 499 yen insead of 398, 498. In Japan there's some superstition related to the figure. They don't like to use 4, 9 basically, they prefer using 8, so for them 399, 499 must have looked as if they are bad numbers. It might have affected sales, which is not sure though, they soon changed the price like 397, 497. For Japanese 7 means nothing but of course they know 7 is a lucky number in Western culture. Why they just didn't return to number 8? Probably for American CEO, 8 meant nothing while 7 means something. I think the gap between 9, 8, 7 in sales is completely ignorable.