Except if we're talking about macarons , no, the prices don't come from Paris. They don't even come, strictly speaking, from a cost+margin equation. They come from VA (Value Added), which is like VAT but without the I. VA is nothing other than the value that the product provides to the customer. We buy things because they add value to us: they make our lives easier, they solve a need, they make us feel good, they arouse the envy of our neighbors... not all added value is strictly monetary. That is why it is said that price is one of the 4 “Ps” of the very old but very current theory of the marketing mix, which I have put in the following spring infographic to brighten your life: Price is a basic component of our marketing strategy. And not only because it is the cheapest. Sometimes, as in the DiverXO example, it is the other way around.
You should know that Dabiz Muñoz has not invented anything , the strategy of raising the price to add value (that of exclusivity, since few can afford it) is very old. For example, this nougat advertising spot from the 80s: 1880 the most expensive nougat in the world - Sculpt “The most expensive nougat in the world” was a slogan that the brand used profusely since the 80s, and it still does, although with a slightly smaller mouth, since there is no oven for many Email Marketing List buns and it is still a industrial nougat. That's what it's like to create a very striking claim, that in the end you are hostage to your own advertising. The Bach Toccata and Fugue as background music and the boastful tone of the voice-over (almost spitting out the words) are priceless. Pure eighties high-class, only equaled by the Ferrero Rocher spots in which Isabel Preysler stuns her visitors by offering them a supermarket dessert while elevator music plays.
If this Christmas they recover the spot for the umpteenth consecutive season, I think I'll go to Tibet. Or not, maybe I get there and the Buddhist monks treat me to Ferrero Rocher. Another example of artificially high prices (remember the warning at the beginning) are Apple products, especially iPhones. Now, I know, cutting-edge technology, cutting-edge materials, superior operating system... you name it, but an iPhone doesn't do anything that other high-end phones don't do for $500 less. Let's be honest: you pay for the apple, because it is a status symbol, something that many brands would kill for and maybe, gulps, they will. That is to say, the high price turns a “normal” product into an aspirational product that very few can access but everyone wants to do it. Is there any other product in the world that, every time a new (more expensive) version is launched, causes lines of hours to be the first to spend up to $1,800? Okay, then I'll raise the prices and drive. Oh, friend, if it were that easy.
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