In retail and pricing, it’s common to round prices so they end with 0.99 — for example, turning 10 into 9.99.
This trick helps making price lists that look consistent and appealing.
Why Use 0.99 Instead of Whole Numbers?
Prices ending in .99 are a common marketing technique known as psychological pricing. Customers tend to focus on the first digit of a price.
So, $9.99 feels cheaper than $10.00, even though the difference is just one cent. This small adjustment can influence buying decisions and improve sales, especially in stores, catalogs, and online shops.
Formula to Round Up to 0.99
To round any number up so it ends with 0.99, the formula is quite simple.
- Start with the ROUNDUP function to round up to the next whole number.
- Use the cell reference as the first argument (the number you want to adjust).
- Set the second argument to 0 to return a whole number (0 stands for no decimals).
- Subtract 0.01 from the result to make it end in .99. 😀👍
The following picture shows you a series of prices rounded to 0.99.
Format as Price
To show your audience that the content of the cells is a price, you can apply the Currency format from the ribbon. Like that, the currency symbol of your country will be added to your numbers.
- Go to the Home tab of the ribbon
- Select the dropdown list of the format number
- Select Currency
You can also directly select this icon in the ribbon
Conclusion
Whether you round up or down, Excel helps you quickly format prices to end with 0.99 — a small change that can make your pricing look more professional 😉
