We now live in a world (at least here in the US of A) where anything that sells is selling for a discount. Homes - cars - trousers - even vitamins and meds.
It is the perpetual world of 'America on Sale'.
So the question becomes why bother pricing anything? Why not just bid out any commodity or service to the highest bidder all the time? Think about it - some dude walks into the GAP and produces a coupon for 15% off because he got an email that asked him to come in and get the 15% off. Another bloke walks in and has no coupon. Now why would you give one person a coupon and not the other? Is the other person less deserving? Since he knows he did not get it will he get pissed off and not buy? Most likely, if the commodity is something like a GAP shirt.
You can go into another retailer who is allowing you to text a code to a number and get yourself a coupon and a very similar shirting experience at less price. Net - GAP lost a customer. So what is this stupidity of coupon printing and chasing deals? Just park your product on a shelf and allow each shopper to show up at the Point of Sale and make their best offer. If the number matches or is above the lowest listed on the computer the deal is made otherwise you leave the store. Priceline for airfare and hotels already does something similar in the e-commerce world.
No retailer will sell for less than what it costs them to produce and stock their shelves. So this whole idiotic idea of pricing a product and then discounting it is in concept ridiculous.
I will buy based on my perception of what is fair value. Many people do not. Shopping and more importantly the marketing of goods is more an ongoing experiment in mass psychology than actual value pricing or economics of supply vs demand.
Apparently a study showed that people are so stupid that if you give them bigger shopping baskets to wander in a store they fill it up more than they need. Warehouse clubs exploit this gullibility to a hilt. Have you seen how a 5 gallon dill pickle container looks up close? These items by the way are called loss leaders since the urge to get that dill at rock bottom price drives people to also grab that 15 lb cookie tin with a hefty markup next to it that will take 2.5 years to consume for a normal being.
Of course there is Suze Orman and her $15 'How to guide' (now at half price at a soon to be bankrupt bookstore) to assist some blind denizens (lose more of their borrowed cash) through this maze once they find themselves tapped out.
I suppose retail thrives on dumb people and so the retailers will never stop pricing and then discounting to make the brand conscious unconsciously cough up $2,000 for some Louis' handbag. This is just how the world works.
I mean whoever heard of paying top dollar for a leather carrier and then not even having your own name on that cow but that of some unspellable Italian? Ha! What there are only 2,000,000 of them around? Esp in the society that these people wander everyone is toting one next to their $5,000 Chihuahua.
It is the perpetual world of 'America on Sale'.
So the question becomes why bother pricing anything? Why not just bid out any commodity or service to the highest bidder all the time? Think about it - some dude walks into the GAP and produces a coupon for 15% off because he got an email that asked him to come in and get the 15% off. Another bloke walks in and has no coupon. Now why would you give one person a coupon and not the other? Is the other person less deserving? Since he knows he did not get it will he get pissed off and not buy? Most likely, if the commodity is something like a GAP shirt.
You can go into another retailer who is allowing you to text a code to a number and get yourself a coupon and a very similar shirting experience at less price. Net - GAP lost a customer. So what is this stupidity of coupon printing and chasing deals? Just park your product on a shelf and allow each shopper to show up at the Point of Sale and make their best offer. If the number matches or is above the lowest listed on the computer the deal is made otherwise you leave the store. Priceline for airfare and hotels already does something similar in the e-commerce world.
No retailer will sell for less than what it costs them to produce and stock their shelves. So this whole idiotic idea of pricing a product and then discounting it is in concept ridiculous.
I will buy based on my perception of what is fair value. Many people do not. Shopping and more importantly the marketing of goods is more an ongoing experiment in mass psychology than actual value pricing or economics of supply vs demand.
Apparently a study showed that people are so stupid that if you give them bigger shopping baskets to wander in a store they fill it up more than they need. Warehouse clubs exploit this gullibility to a hilt. Have you seen how a 5 gallon dill pickle container looks up close? These items by the way are called loss leaders since the urge to get that dill at rock bottom price drives people to also grab that 15 lb cookie tin with a hefty markup next to it that will take 2.5 years to consume for a normal being.
Of course there is Suze Orman and her $15 'How to guide' (now at half price at a soon to be bankrupt bookstore) to assist some blind denizens (lose more of their borrowed cash) through this maze once they find themselves tapped out.
I suppose retail thrives on dumb people and so the retailers will never stop pricing and then discounting to make the brand conscious unconsciously cough up $2,000 for some Louis' handbag. This is just how the world works.
I mean whoever heard of paying top dollar for a leather carrier and then not even having your own name on that cow but that of some unspellable Italian? Ha! What there are only 2,000,000 of them around? Esp in the society that these people wander everyone is toting one next to their $5,000 Chihuahua.
Makes lot of sense. Whether the customer will 'buy' this idea remains to be seen.
ReplyDeleteCust'dumber' will likely freak out
ReplyDelete