Acerca da maldição dos descontos

"said department stores have fallen back on sales promotions whenever business begins to slow.
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“Sale[s] cannot be the only driver, it has to be a part of it. But product, presentation, excitement in the stores, the salespeople in terms of servicing the customer” all need to be part of the value proposition for department stores to succeed, he said.
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“The dilemma all department stores face is that, while they would like to wean themselves from the heavy use of promotions, they run the risk of losing their customer base as long as their competitors continue to emphasize sales promotions,” Mr. Montgomery said. “Can it be done? The answer is yes, but to do so would require repositioning themselves in the marketplace.
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“Stores fall back on discounts because discounts are simple and tend to meet short-term KPIs for the executives,” said Doug Garnett, founder and CEO of Atomic Direct. “It’s too bad because these other values [product, presentation, excitement in the stores, the salespeople …] build long-term success.”
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“As it turns out, our recent data tells us that retailers are being run by Generation X, for Generation X,” Paula Rosenblum, managing partner at RSR Research. “So Millennials are turning out to be something like the weather — everyone talks about them, but there isn’t much anyone (besides the fast fashion guys) is doing about them.”
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“Most department stores have thrown Boomers under the bus and have expected us to respond to endless coupons and trim-fit shirts with abandon,” said Bob Phibbs, president and CEO of The Retail Doctor. “You have to earn our business — we’re not rats to the Velveeta cheese of discounts. We’re hungry for something better.”"

BTW, esta altura do ano é terrível para apanharmos o lado negro do retalho. Ontem à hora do almoço com cerca de 80 € de livros na mão desisti. A fila para pagar não era grande mas era apenas uma funcionária que fazia os embrulhos e tratava do pagamento. Para cúmulo, outra funcionária estava nas traseiras a arrumar não sei o quê. Já no feriado, numa loja Zippy estive uns 3 minutos na fila sem funcionário junto ao balcão de pagamento. Depois, lá apareceu uma funcionária muito lenta e que teve de refazer um embrulho duas vezes e tratar do pagamento. Entretanto, outra caixa estava fechada porque a outra funcionária "namorava" com amiga que estava na fila atrás de mim. Tanto esforço para atrair clientes e, depois, morrer na praia...

Trechos retirados de "Can Department Stores End Their Addiction To Discounting"

Para fugir ao massacre da comoditização

O desenvolvimento da experiência, para fugir ao massacre da comoditização, 4 alternativas:

"Because of the wide variety of alternatives available to their customers, companies often feel they can no longer create any differentiation. They are stuck thinking that all that can be done was done already. They feel as if their products or services have reached the heart of commoditization.

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Exhibit 4.5 provides a view of the four alternatives facing any company experiencing the threat and challenges of commoditization. One is to add value prior to the purchase (early in the food chain).[Moi ici: Trabalhar influenciadores e prescritores]

... By adding value before the purchase, your experiences evolve and become customized to customer needs, and not just another option from a long list. Your expertise and knowledge become the differentiators that add value to customers. ...

A second alternative is to add value after the purchase. Enrich your product with additional, post-sale services that differentiate it and deliver a more complete experience to the customer. Take care of the larger picture for your customer and minimize the assembling of value he or she needs to do across different service providers.

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A third alternative is to innovate.

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There is a fourth—and lazy—alternative: discounting. Being lazy or cautious, most companies quickly enter into this familiar terrain. It’s one thing they can do easily and get quick results. But it is costly in the long term."

Trechos retirados de "Passionate and profitable : why customer strategies fail and ten steps to do them right" de Lior Arussy.

Descontos, outro veneno

"There’s a simple pricing mistake which could sink your company. The “D” word. Discounts.
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Discounting is a slippery slope. However, if you never offer price discounts to anyone, you can resist all such requests by deferring to your company “policy.” You can also mitigate end-of-quarter price erosion by firmly communicating, early in the sales process, that your company is not subject to quarterly sales pressures.
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Eliminating price reductions also denies mediocre salespeople their favorite crutch, while encouraging creative salespeople team to craft non-price incentives to spur purchases.
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the importance of identifying, and communicating the full differentiated value to customers, rather than reflexively focusing on just price. The question isn’t which price is more or less, it’s which option provides the greatest economic value to the client and price is just one component of that conversation.”

Recordar os números do Evangelho do Valor para ter uma ideia do poder nefasto dos descontos.
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Pena que, com ligeireza, os jornais económicos apontem o caminho mais fácil "Quer convencer polacos? Baixe o preço". Melhor seria que pregassem outra via, uma mais rebuscada, uma menos intuitiva, uma mais estratégica, uma com mais futuro, uma que ajudasse a criar valor e diferenciação.

Trechos retirados de "This Pricing Mistake Could Sink Your Company"

Uma opinião acerca dos descontos no B2B

Assim que vi este título "The Myth Of The One-Time Discount":

"One Time Discounts Become Permanent Price Reductions
Now you run head-on into the third unintended consequence which is that your base price to ABS is now 5% lower than it was last month. Salespeople suffer from situational amnesia. Customers don’t. A salesperson only sees a discount as a tactic to close orders. He or she only remembers the times that it worked and not the 95% of the times that it didn’t. But as far as your customers are concerned your discount was not a one-time event but a permanent reduction in your price."

Lembrei-me da última conversa que tive com a gestão de topo de uma empresa de serviços que, para cativar potenciais clientes para novos serviços, pensa em vir a utilizar um desconto inicial como chamariz, para baixar a resistência à experimentação da novidade.
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Pessoalmente, defendi que preferia oferecer uma experiência grátis, do que comprometer o preço do serviço em velocidade de cruzeiro, com o "priming" do preço com desconto inicial.