WHY should YOU keep control of how YOUR product is priced?

Who cares how much somebody is charging for your product, it's all about beating the competition, and increasing sales volume, isn't it?

Good question, but YOU should be the one who cares, as it becomes very easy to lose control of the price people charge for your products, and if that happens, the perceived value, of even the best, highest quality product, is destroyed.

How does that happen?

Here are a few exampes -

One of my suppliers got a really big order, from a company in New York, they thought it was great; they shipped the product - a week later, several customers call them demanding to know how this other site is selling the goods for ONE THIRD LESS than they can afford to?

We recently got an inquiry from another company, in the NYC area, looking for a good price on a huge order of that same line; I gave them a price; the guy wants the best price I can give him, he wants to buy a pallet of product; so I told him that 250 cases at $60.00 a case - the wholesale price - would be $15,000.00; suddenly his tune changes, maybe he only takes 10 cases, how much would it be?

I replied, it would be $600.00; then I called the supplier to let them know what was happening, since they referred this guy to me.

That is when I discovered that they had filled a really large order, from another company, and that company under-priced the product, all over the internet; pissed off all their other customers, and NEVER ORDERED AGAIN!

Meanwhile, they ruined the goodwill that this supplier had with their customers, because now, nobody could trust that they were getting the right price, much less offering the product for sale at what a retail customer would perceive is the right price.......you see where I am going here?

That supplier, did not want another one of THOSE customers again.

We had a customer, who bought a fair amount of product, and whenever he asked for a better price, we always responded that we charged an everyday low price, and everyone paid the same wholesale price, and he was ok with that, until, he went to a trade show, saw my supplier, claimed he was going to do tremendous volumes and demanded a better price.

The owner of the company did not hold fast and support our pricing, we were charging HIS listed wholesale price; instead he gave this one store a distributor price for product, we lost the customer, he, needlessly gave away a lot of profit, and now, I understand that this store doesn't do that much business with them anymore, anyway.

One truth remains indisputable, at the end of the day, no matter what the volumes, YOU must, if you want to remain a viable business, make a profit from operations.

Everyone wants the best price, and if you can give a legitimate customer a discount, and still keep profit, fine; many owners are afraid that if they don't give in, they will lose business - maybe they will, but is that business good business? Does it increase brand presence, perceived value and sales - profitably; or will they destroy your existing business relationships and good will, by selling at too low a price? And then, never buy again.

Have another vendor that was working on getting into Walmart.

When they told me the story it made no sense to me at all; it is a specialty brand, geared more for the natural and organic markets, specialty markets and higher end supermarkets, for people who valued high quality Japanese foods,

The home office, in Japan, realized that selling through Walmart may tarnish the image of the brand, and the high quality and value products that they sold, and so backed out of the Walmart deal.

They did not want to lose control of their pricing ability to a customer of that size, because once it happened, they could never regain control.

The price you sell your products for, has to pay for a lot of things; cost of your ingredients, or finished goods, transportation, licenses, insurance, marketing and promotions, brokers, representatives or sales people, warehousing, packaging, salaries and a host of other things, depending upon the type of product you sell - ALL THAT IS IN THE PRICE YOU CHARGE - can you really afford to not control that one important thing?

Something to think about.