Sir, Observing myself as a consumer, there are certain products that I now only ever buy on discount.
I basically wait for the next promotion round and I almost never pay full price. Or if it's something like wine or beer, where I have a range of preferences, I can usually get one that's discounted. Surely, this is not the type of loyalty you want as a brand.
I know the grocery sector is competitive and I know price promotions give strong uplift. I guess the idea is to convert new customers, but I can't be the only one acting promiscuously.
My question is: long term, does this work? You don't get the likes of Apple constantly giving 3-for-2s on the iPod.
Most consumers that I know think the manufacturer must be minting it if they can afford to promote at that price. They don't seem to realise it's a loss-investment approach because of competition, which means already on one level the promotion is failing, as instead of sending a "please try me" message, the consumer is hearing "most of the time I rip you off". Either way, the product becomes associated with the lower price.
Do brands, therefore, actually undermine their own value and more widely, does the sector constantly undermine itself by constantly harping on about low prices?
Maybe this is where shopping in general is going in an age of plenty but I can't help thinking we dig a very deep pit for ourselves this way.
Charles Redfern, MD, Organico Realfoods
I basically wait for the next promotion round and I almost never pay full price. Or if it's something like wine or beer, where I have a range of preferences, I can usually get one that's discounted. Surely, this is not the type of loyalty you want as a brand.
I know the grocery sector is competitive and I know price promotions give strong uplift. I guess the idea is to convert new customers, but I can't be the only one acting promiscuously.
My question is: long term, does this work? You don't get the likes of Apple constantly giving 3-for-2s on the iPod.
Most consumers that I know think the manufacturer must be minting it if they can afford to promote at that price. They don't seem to realise it's a loss-investment approach because of competition, which means already on one level the promotion is failing, as instead of sending a "please try me" message, the consumer is hearing "most of the time I rip you off". Either way, the product becomes associated with the lower price.
Do brands, therefore, actually undermine their own value and more widely, does the sector constantly undermine itself by constantly harping on about low prices?
Maybe this is where shopping in general is going in an age of plenty but I can't help thinking we dig a very deep pit for ourselves this way.
Charles Redfern, MD, Organico Realfoods
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