A negotiation strategy viewed as effective when negotiating as a customer was identifying a solution that would be mutually beneficial. This strategy is regarded as a kind of joint problem-solving, but is still ritualistic. Especially at large-scale electrical appliance stores in Japan, managers anticipate customers’ requests for lowering the price and have a pre-fixed formula for calculating how much the price can be reduced. Typical examples were: "When I went to a large-scale electrical appliance store to buy a personal computer, I asked a clerk to give me a discount on that product. The clerk declined by saying that it was already offered at a discount price. So I told him that I would buy a digital camera as well, and asked him again to lower the price. The negotiation was concluded so that both parties could be satisfied;" and "When I wanted to buy something expensive, I had the clerk cut down the price, emphasizing that I would pay in cash."
Another ritualistic negotiation strategy used to one’s advantage when shopping was emphasizing that they had previously made big purchases at the store or informing the clerk that they had plans to make purchases at the store in the future. "My husband always negotiates at stores when he buys something expensive. For instance, he is going to buy a TV, he will try to get them to mark it down as much as he can, emphasizing that he spends hundreds of dollars there;" and "I went to a large-scale electrical appliance store to buy a TV. Although I asked a clerk to make it less expensive, it had no effect. Next time I went to the store, I asked another clerk many questions on the product, and told the clerk that I was planning to buy it. A week later I asked the same clerk to discount it, and it worked."