Price vs Service

Another area of marketing that gets overlooked is pricing points. Targeting consumers takes much more than a nifty product and slogan; it has to involve price to give the product the perfect desire and balance a level of service associated with that price.

If a product is priced cheaply and marketed to people with upper income levels then the product will more than likely fail due to it being seen as cheap and of low quality. On a flip note, if it is marketed to lower income levels and has a price out of their range then the consumer will not be able to afford it and the product will fail due to no units being sold.

Seth Godin’s Price blog gives a short, yet profound look into price as a form of marketing and is, in my opinion, why the Wall-Marts of the world struggle in to retain consumers in the long run. If price is the only thing consumers gains from doing business with such a company then what happens when the consumers desires a richer more meaningful experience?

Usually the consumer ends up leaving and purchasing from another company that fills service void to create a meaning buying experience. Service is a key part in the marketing strategy because consumers can always find something cheaper but the service can vary dramatically from one business to another and its service that retains clients while building a positive word of mouth.

The price vs. service debate has entrenched the real estate industry and has caused shifts on both sides, new business models to spring up and endless supply of blog postings on why both sides are right. It is a debate that won’t end in the near future but my take is; I will always be willingly pay more for a product if the service commitment is there. I want know that when things are bad I will be taken care of over the long haul and if price is the only thing they can only offer me than I am better doing business somewhere else.