The couch gets compared; the pillows often don’t
A sofa is a conspicuous purchase: shoppers can compare its price across stores, and a discount is easy to advertise. A retailer may accept a thinner profit on it—or even use a sharp deal to bring people in—because the sofa is the item customers came to shop for. In retail, this is sometimes called a loss leader: a popular product priced to attract buyers, with the hope that other purchases help make the sale worthwhile.
Pillows face a different kind of price scrutiny. They come in many fabrics, colors, sizes, and fills, so it is harder to compare one directly with another. Someone trying to finish a room may care more about whether a pillow matches the sofa than whether an identical one costs less elsewhere.
Small items can carry more room for markup
The pillow’s price reflects more than its materials. Retailers also have to cover costs such as design, shipping, storage, staff, and the space used to display many variations. Those costs do not shrink in proportion to the amount of fabric in the item. A small accessory can therefore have a high price relative to its production cost, especially when it is sold as a style choice rather than a standardized commodity.
And accessories are easy to add at the point of purchase. A shopper who has already chosen a sofa may buy a pair of pillows to make the room feel finished. The store gets an additional sale without having to persuade that shopper to start a second major purchase.
That doesn’t mean every store deliberately sells pillows at a huge profit, or that every pillow is overpriced. But it helps explain the striking contrast: the big item wins attention with its price; the small item can earn its keep through convenience, variety, and weaker price comparisons.
