Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
Ask the customer what the price should be, and of course you'll get a low answer. The problem is what occurs when that answer is lower than the minimum you must charge to make money on your product.
|
The market research firms don't just ask the customers what the price should be. There is a science to it and they're very good at it.
Quote:
|
"figure out how you can deliver to that price point, increase the product value or go out of business" is easy to say but far more complicated in practice.
|
No it's not easy but that's how business works. When Ford created their first automobile they built it to a price point that a teacher could afford. They didn't just build it and say too bad that's what it costs.
Quote:
|
What would you recommend to add value to an ebook?
|
Change the term of sale so that the consumer maintains the right to read the book for the their own personal use for the remainder of their life. They can't resell it, but they own it.
Add a satisfaction guarantee. If you don't like it we'll refund your money.
Improve the quality.
Quote:
|
What different rules? Virtual or physical, the product has a cost, and the producer has an amount it has to make to stay in business. That fact doesn't change because something is virtual.
|
Anyone can create copies, so you can't corner the market or hold a monopoly. You have to be much more careful about customer satisfaction. With a physical product the seller is negotiating from a stronger position.
Quote:
The disagreement comes over what the costs of making the virtual product are. For publishing and ebooks, the fact that the product is virtual drops the print/bind/warehouse/distribute steps, but those don't account for anywhere near as much of the production costs as many folks like to assume.
______
Dennis
|
I believe the disagreement comes from much more then this. Electronically distributing a 1MB file is much cheaper then selling through brick and mortar stores so 50% of the list price disappears in most consumers view. The print/bind/warehouse/distribution/return costs come out of the wholesale price. The publishers are trying to take a couple bucks of the list price and consumers aren't buying that story.
The other point of view is the customer's perceived value of the product. They're being told they don't own it, they can't sell it, it could go away tomorrow and there's nothing they can do. The value relative to a paper copy is less but they're being asked to pay more. Either way they looks at it they get pissed.