Opportunity and perception.

[Penguin45]

We have an opportunity coming soon, when the WEEE directive bites. We can also combine this with the impending cost of material rises in production cost to alter perceptions of the value of customers products.

Very soon, we shall see product cost rise by, say, £10 per unit as the material costs filter through and we have been bandying about £20 as the disposal cost of a new appliance. This is a £30 hike in sales price and will no doubt be palmed off with poker faces by the sheds as being nothing to do with them.

Cheaper production bases can only be brought on line relatively slowly, so an overall hike in retail prices is almost inevitable in the near future.

Now then……… £30 on the price of a £169 Beko auto washer is a significant price boost. £30 on the price of a Miele is almost insignificant.

Two things can happen if we work this right.

1) Promote the fact that if you buy the cheap one, over 10{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of your money is already dedicated to throwing it away.

2) Promote the fact that your nice £400 pound Bosch is only taking 5{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of your money to dispose of it and may well last considerably longer.

Now then – the people who buy the Beko/Servis/Indesit crap will resent paying money up front for buying crap in the first place for its disposal and MAY (this is the crucial bit) be persuaded to buy something a little better – with a longer service life. Those who can afford the better quality product in the first place can AFFORD the extra probably won’t mind the bit extra.

Or, we push the service aspect (that’s our main interest, remember) – do you want the Government to have your £20 now…….. or in a few years time?

If we work this correctly, we can affect a change in attitude to the customers perception of their product – you’re paying an extra £30 for no other reason than that the Government can’t control what you pay. ALWAYS good for some resentment…….

We could even finish up with customers thinking that Beko is actually worth something.

Ponder and post.

Regards,
Chris
(Possibly the only truly cynical Penguin on planet Earth.)

[kwatt]

Re: Opportunity and perception.

There is a window of opportunity here I think as well, not just to bang the drum on UKW but, handled correctly, I think we could actually get a lot of what we’re doing here covered by the media as well. If we can get that on the go, even if UKW is not even mentioned, then we win.

Whilst UKW reaches a lot of people and, I guess, a good bit of the industry we’d be unlikely to reach enough to make a sizeable difference, but then affecting sales is what we want to do and even doing that in the order of a few thousand a month could make a difference in the way that some of the manufacturers stop and think. However as you well know Chris, once a course for these boys has been set it takes a lot of time to correct or change it.

I think that there’s a lot of merit in what you’re doing but also add in the fact that the more expensive appliance has a longer anticipated lifespan from the outset as well thereby negating or offsetting the WEEE cost as well. It’s also WORTH repairing and likely it will be more economical to do so on a more expensive appliance and that’s also a consideration, which in turn pushes our services.

Changing the attitude of consumers has always been a goal of mine, pet hobby really, and it is worth the attempt.

As for a Beko being worth something, share the drugs man!

K.

[Penguin45]

Re: Opportunity and perception.

Please don’t misunderstand what I said. It’s a safe bet that we all understand that Beko is crap – I’m talking about Public perception of their product – they want it to last – the increase in price may be enough to persuade people to opt for repair rather than replacement – both for chargeable and warranty repairs.

The warranty situation might prove interesting, especially for insurance work – if appliances go up by £30 are they just going to cary on BER’ing or will they be more likely to repair?

Let’s face it, what we want is repairs!

Chris
(Wow the colours man…..}

[kwatt]

For the manufacturers it just raises the cost of an exchange yet again, so they’ll be even less keen to exchange products. But then they’re doing more now than ever they were so far as I can see,

For the insurer I’m guessing that it will depend on who’s picking up the tab for the disposal.

K.

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