How to Charge Double for Paper Plates (And Have Customers Thank You)

Selena Knight has spent 20 years in retail and knows exactly why most e-commerce businesses are undercharging. One of her favourite examples? An Australian party supplies company that charges $6 for $3 paper plates — and their customers keep coming back.

In this conversation, we get into price anchoring, why the businesses that survived 2025 were the ones charging more, not less, the three questions that close every in-store sale, and what she learned from Gary V's organisational psychologist about hiring people who actually think for themselves.

If you're competing on price, this one might change your mind.

Subscribe to the newsletter at ecommercepodcast.net

Key Point Timestamps:

06:45 - The Three Questions That Close Every Sale

11:52 - What a £12,000 Cocktail Teaches About Pricing

15:34 - Why Premium Brands Won 2025

25:22 - Hiring for Culture Over Skills

The Three Questions That Close Every Sale (06:45)

In her eco baby product stores, Salena developed a framework built on one principle: if you give someone more than three choices, they probably won't buy anything.

When a customer walked in looking for a gift, the team asked three questions: What type of person are they? What pain point do you want to solve? What's the budget? From there, they'd present three options — high, mid, and low. "And inevitably, I tend to find that they buy the high price thing, which is great."

The e-commerce application is straightforward. Most online stores dump customers onto a category page with dozens of options. But you control the canonical structure of that page. You choose what appears first, second, and third — and you can guide decisions just as deliberately as a knowledgeable shop assistant would.

What a £12,000 Cocktail Teaches About Pricing (11:52)

Price anchoring is behaviourally proven — our brains benchmark against the first number we see. At the Savoy, a £16 gin and tonic feels outrageous until you see cocktails for £300–400. Then a £12,000 flagship cocktail makes the £300 ones look almost sensible.

Salena applies this directly to e-commerce category pages. Most stores sort products lowest-to-highest. Her advice: "When somebody comes to a category section, I will always have at least two really high-priced products. And then I'll have the product that you really want to sell."

If your sweet spot is £200 jeans, put the £300 pair first. Some people will bounce, but as Salena notes, "They probably weren't gonna buy anyway." Everyone else now sees £200 as a bargain.

Why Premium Brands Won 2025 (15:34)

In a year where consumer spending tightened noticeably, Salena shares what she saw across her client base: the businesses that did well were charging above the average, not below it.

"Where I saw the people who did well were brands that I would call premium. Not luxury, not your Louis Vuittons, but they're charging above the average."

Premium brands had already built their point of difference. They weren't competing on price, so price pressure didn't destroy them. Meanwhile, the discount-driven businesses were stuck in a brutal race to the bottom. The Party People could charge $6 for $3 plates because convenience was worth paying for. Premium doesn't mean expensive for the sake of it — it means giving people a reason to pay more and making that reason obvious.

Hiring for Culture Over Skills (25:22)

Premium pricing only works if the team understands the vision. Salena distinguishes between "donkeys" (reliable doers) and "unicorns" (thinkers who solve problems independently). Both are essential, but growing beyond a certain point requires people smarter than the founder.

"You can't be as smart as me. You have to be smarter than me. Because if this whole business is only as smart as me, we're screwed."

Working with Gary Vaynerchuk's organisational psychologist, Salena learned a simple hiring exercise: write down everything that annoys you. The insight? "When you ask people what they want, they can't usually tell you. But they can tell you what they don't want." From that list, she identifies which frustrations are genuine business needs — and which are just personal irritations she needs to make peace with.

Today's Guest

Today's guest: Salena Knight

Company: Salena Knight — Retail Growth Strategist

Website: salenaknight.com

LinkedIn: Connect with Salena on LinkedIn

Instagram: @thesalenaknight

Episode link: https://www.ecommerce-podcast.com/how-to-charge-double-for-paper-plates-and-have-customers-thank-you