Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
Frankly it ticks me off that I have spent hundreds of thousands in one store over the years, but now johnny-come-lately has the same purchasing power that I do. Maybe I'm naive and those days are gone.
Yep, this annoys me too and I lose faith in the credibility of the store.
Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
Setting a fixed selling price also kills the possibility of the store throwing together "package deals", where they will throw in a bunch of free product (strings, plectra, case, books, etc.) with a purchase that together add up to a bigger discount than the buyer would usually get but still works out with a higher profit margin for the store than the same item discounted normally. This kind of thing benefits both buyer and seller.
I disagree with this argument Alan. We all know that you get nothing for free. I don't like being suckered into the extras that I might not have actually wanted. I will make the choice as the customer when and what I buy. Tell me the actual price and I will make an informed decision. Also tell me upfront what my discount is as a loyal customer, a professional or a business.
Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
A set "pre-discounted" price also creates a lower perceived value of the product - and you will find that most of your manufacturers are more worried about their product's perceived value than the discounts you give - and for good reason.
I also disagree with this. Repeated discounting does more damage to a brand's image than selling to the advertised price. Also, advertising at an inflated price makes the item potentially out of reach of a some buyers. This is like shooting yourself in the foot.
Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
Local stores will increasingly find it more difficult to compete against the big international sellers until the local distributors man up and tackle the manufacturers on supplying them product at a price that enables them to compete fairly without costing the end users more. That is where both the disparity and the solution lies - between manufacturer and distributor.
I don't care what goes on between the manufacturer and the retailer as long as there is not price fixing. The retailer must advertise his price and I will make a decision to buy or not on the perceived value of the item plus the after-sales service and the soft issue of whether I like doing business with the shop concerned.
I must say that all this inflated pricing and discounting does nothing for the image of the retail music industry or the distributors and, as a consumer, I don't really trust them because of this. I always feel that I have to be on my guard rather than what they wan't me to feel, 'grateful because I was given a discount.'
