As the famous Stella Artois ad used to say ‘Reassuringly expensive’. And further evidence, if further evidence were needed, that cutting prices is a short plank to nowhere came last week with the news that Carluccios eschew price cutting . Their MD, Simon Kossoff, explains that they had been successful through this last year of recession because they had remained faithful to their pricing policy. He explained “We want to avoid damaging our brand equity. Rather than pursuing short-term discounts, we prefer to adopt a long-term view of protecting the brand.” The notion that pricing forms a key component of brand equity isn’t new, but maintaining a price position, even in these trying times, can be as important for customers as a round of wanton price cuts.
And, as I always rant to anyone foolish enough to stand still and listen to me, if you cut your prices now there’s only one way for your prices to go in the future……..and it isn’t up.
Courage mes braves, courage.
Posted by Geraint
Amen. Its amazing isn’t it, that something so fundamentally true, is so often ignored. Look at things from your customers point of view, how are they likely to react? Or in fact, how would you react if one of your favourite brands suddenly went ‘cheap’?
Comment by graeme fraser — November 1, 2009 @ 9:57 pm |