Thoughts from us……Is there such a thing as “Fair pricing”?

We are now approaching the business time for all Retailers large and small, and it is tough…very though!!  Tesco has canned the Double points promo and brought in “Price drop” – I am not sure if you have noticed, but Tesco have been increasing prices over the last few months and the “Price drop” is still much higher than 12 months ago – Good marketing ploy, but not good for honesty and our customers.

Where is the concept of “Fair Pricing”?

All customers now need to shop around to find the best deals – they cannot afford to take the offer for granted.  In my opinion, good retailers should be much more honest and work with the customers to ensure that the customer is getting the best deal at the time – this does not mean giving your products away for a low margin, but educating the customer why your products are priced as they are and what the benefits of your products are.

Let me give you a real life example – My office is near “The People’s Supermarket” (I am sure you all remember the TV series about this “community” store).  The concept is local people staffing the store, which leads to good value for the customers…..I am afraid (in my view) this concept has failed completely…The store standards are appalling and I have been shocked by the high prices…unfortunately there is a Waitrose 5 minutes away and I am more likely to shop there.  The People’s supermarket has no personality and no reason to drive me in…as I have said, they need to charge higher prices and I could not find the reason to justify the higher prices.

Now, on the other hand, I have a fantastic local Café that is opposite Starbucks and is fantastic – it is not the most amazing shop fit, but it does have friendly staff and excellent quality food and drink.  I have now persuaded all the office to go there and the owner is grateful…to be fair to him, I told him the reason I am there is quality and value – I know what I get is good quality and a fair price.

For me, “Fair Pricing” is about the customer and your product – you should price your product according to the quality of the product and the value the customer will get from using your products.  We all know the old saying….”you get what you pay for” and all customers know this – If you buy a jumper from Primark it will last a couple of washes, if you buy a jumper from Nigel Hall or Joseph is will last a lot longer.

And for my last comments – What is Selfridges doing???

They are allowing Primark into their stores next to Hugo Boss, John Smedley, Nigel Hall and Tom Ford….are they crazy?  I know we lovingly refer to Primark as “Primani” but we all know it is cheap fashion (and has a well deserved place in our retail mix) – If you spent £100 on a jumper and were given a Yellow Selfridges bag, would you want to see the person next to you spending £5 on a jumper and being given the same bag???

Maybe I am a branding snob, but I would not be happy knowing that within the iconic Selfridges bag is a £5 “Primani” jumper….Time will tell, but this is a bad move in my humble opinion.

I would love to hear your thoughts…Please comment below and let me know what you think 🙂

Have a great week and Happy Retailing