Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Pricing Strategies........how much are you really paying????

Well this blog is not really specifically leather related, but more about products in general with regards to price.

Over the past few months there are more instances coming to light and public attention where the true cost of the product is being questioned. There is so much mark up within the supply chain, and it is the poor old consumer who has to pay. Now I totally understand this from the old traditional 'bricks and mortar' point of view, but now with direct sales being so much easier to carry out, surely the price benefits and greater supply chain economy should be at least offered to the customer/consumer.

Another thing that really annoys me is just how much these sports stars get paid through endorsements, which ultimately you and I as consumers/customers end up paying for. Last night was a prime example when Usain Bolt (that rather quick sprinter!!!) was being interviewed on BBC's Top Gear. It was stated on the programme from Bolt himself, that when he won Gold at the Olmypics last year that Puma asked him what gift he would like. And so he said a super expensive BMw M3, and hey presto he got one!!!!!! (only to write it off in an accident some time later). But who paid for that M3???? That's right!!!!! Us the consumer/customer!!!!!! Do you really think that is a brand that is acting in the interest of it's consumers/customers...... I certainly don't. This is the tip of the iceberg, and simply adds cost to the final pricing of the product. I mean really what is the big deal with professional endorsements these days....... do they really mean what they say or is it just greed and all lies behind the scenes...... I'll let you be the judge.

Well anyway, here at Nomis we have decided to take the stance and do things differently where we can. Hence the pulling out of retail and offering our product through a direct marketing approach rewards not only us but also our customers, and here in Australasia you will be rewarded by up to 35% off of the original RRP's if you order through our website www.shopnomis-au.com or call us on 1300 1 NOMIS or via skype ID Nomis.Australasia
We call this the Nomis-2-Consumer (N2C) pricing and we hope it will help people out in these tough and uncertain economic times. In addition, we'll be offering a limited 30-day money back guarantee as well and real fast shipping options. That way we think it addresses the needs of the consumer pretty well. Couple this with our Mobile Wear Test Centres that are cruising around, and where you can try our footwear out without obligation, and we think we have a great strategy in place. We'll be letting people know by Twitter and our monthly e-mail newsletters about the planned Wear Trial dates and locations going forwards.

But the one thing I am interested in is does the customer/consumer understand why the price has been reduced or is it better to say up to 35% off RRP and show a discount all of the time ??? What appeals to the consumer more??? A bargain, or transparency of costs involved??? Frankly I'm still researching that one, as we need to ensure that the consumer/customer still fully understands that the prices can be reduced through direct marketing due to the retailers profit margin being removed, and not the notion that the product has been engineered more cheaply. But I would love to hear your thoughts on this as the jury is most certainly still out with good arguments for both approaches.

Well signing off for now. And remember.... each time you purchase something, just think what amount you have contributed to that new toy for the professional that is endorsing it ;-)

Cheers,

Dr Leather

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Copycat products...... grrrrr!

Well a few weeks ago I found a copycat product for out Nomis wet control leather rugby gloves. It's from a supposed 'leading' rugby supplier brand in Australia, so I decided to get a pair to see for myself.

Frankly they are a VERY cheap copy, and the marketing is a direct rip off of ours. So how does this make us feel??? Well imitation is the supposed greatest form of flattery, but in this case it is evidently not that as the brand in question is using all the efforts of Nomis, whom are trying tocreate a good product, but then this other brand is actually trying to cheat the consumer with something that looks near the same and reads the same with their packaging. In testing it comes nowhere near our product!!!!!

We had this earlier this year when the Nomis Instinct football boot was blatantly copied by another inferior Australian footwear brand, and confused the consumer so much that we even had returns from confused consumers/customers who thought they were buying our genuine Nomis product, but it wasn't!!!!! I just wish other brands had the real innovation horsepower to actually come up with something new and beneficial to the consumer.

So what to do???? Well we have a new DNA type technology that we are looking at installing to prove you have genuine product.

Well there's my rant for the Sunday afternoon. Just remember people..... imitation never leads to innovation!!!!

Cheers,

Dr Leather