BETTER ALMOST ALWAYS BEATS CHEAPER – 3 OBSERVATIONS In 2016 many businesses are obsessed with price as the primary driver of sales. Indeed, given their similarity, many products seem to compete on no other criteria. The project home market is a great example of this. All the houses are the same, so price becomes the […]

BETTER ALMOST ALWAYS BEATS CHEAPER – 3 OBSERVATIONS In 2016 many businesses are obsessed with price as the primary driver of sales. Indeed, given their similarity, many products seem to compete on no other criteria. The project home market is a great example of this. All the houses are the same, so price becomes the differentiator. There seems to me to be an obsession with driving cost down to drive sales while protecting margins. In such an environment it is reasonable to ask whether consumers will pay for excellence. Will They? This is clearly a valid, and important, question. Certainly, there are markets in which the consumers will always pay for excellence and in which price will never be a barrier to the purchase of excellence. Price sensitivity is certainly lower when buying Cartier, Bulgari, Ferrari or Rolls Royce. The markets for these products will pay for excellence and, indeed,…