Even during periods of low inflation, small businesses have faced increasing expenditure in a variety of areas over recent years. One approach to increase sales is offering discounts on products, but it is often ultimately necessary to raise prices in order to offset expenditure. Increasing prices by a reasonable margin will not necessarily have a negative impact on revenue from regular customers, as long as a suitable strategy is taken to justify price increase to the consumer. Consumers may not always be aware of the high cost in both time and money of administrative, 'behind the scenes' aspects of business. Customers must be reassured that they are paying for a high quality product, and that increased prices reflect the need to cover unseen, escalating costs of running a business.