Re[2]: UKNM: Price matching

[Jim Sterne]

At 02:10 AM 10/8/98 , Geoffrey Inns wrote:

>Comparative pricing will happen - it depends on who wants to set it up.  


It is happening and thanks to XML it's going to

start happening more and more in a serious way.

In a world where everything becomes a commodity,

everybody loses when competing on price. What's

left? Service and brand.


Service is tricky because I am going to shop at

the site that offers the most information and

the best answers to frequently asked questions

to find the product I want. Then, with a click,

I'm off to the really boring site that is text-

only, served out of an ASCII database with no

information whatsoever, but simply the best prices.


To win at service, you have to build up what is

offered on the back end. Return policy, upgrade

allowances, questions answered and problems solved.


So all the fancy personalization software I can 

implement on the front end might be wasted. It

just provides the answer and the shopper takes

his trade elsewhere. But the personalization on

the back-end is where the loyalty is. If I buy 

something from too-damned-cheap-to-be-believed.com 

and I can't get satisfaction when the box arrives 

two weeks late and broken, I won't go back.


As for pricing -  there's no choice but to go

global. Here's the new international price list:


Location        Price    Shipping & Handling

-------    -------    -----------------

France        93.70       18.60

Germany       27.90        5.40

Japan       1993.20      500.00

Switzerland   22.60        4.40

UK            10.00        1.00

US            17.10        5.10


You pay the same price for the product, but

you pay more for shipping and taxes and customs.

The price battle will go to the company that

has the best distribution.


So now we're back to fighting about quality,

convenience, service and brand. Full circle?


---------------------------------------------------------

Jim Sterne              Target Marketing of Santa Barbara

jsternetargeting [dot] com

                   www.targeting.com

Author, Speaker, Consultant               +1 805-965-3184

Internet Marketing & Customer Service Strategy Consulting

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