(This post was last modified: 01-31-2020, 06:17 PM by DanLaw.)
(01-31-2020, 03:06 PM)george1906 Wrote: We shall see if he reduces prices a bit or goes back to his drop method.
Having worked at a very high level in major corps with strategy and pricing responsibility for luxury goods targeting HNWs, can flatly state that a product gets one chance at maximum pricing - if it works, the brand is elevated to another level henceforth (and previous buyers at the lower prices also gain a windfall) BUT if it fails the opportunity to reset lower is virtually nonexistent. The seller will have alienated those holding residual resentment that the product is not as desirable as previously thought proven in the market by having failed to attain the premium status sought and hence harbor ongoing dissonance regarding acquiring future product even at the original price while the buyers at the premium price will be outwardly hostile in a public manner about having been taken, likely bitter to products already owned even those purchased at the original pricing structure. One can not help but wonder if Varlet was well advised to pursue this endeavor - one surely wrestles to label it a strategy.
Contrast this with the creeping pricing efforts successfully employed by James duFour at Wolfman - whether intended, he developed a strategy on the fly via incremental tactical market response to address secondary market flipping and the public's sense of fairness. Declaration Grooming well and truly developed a strategy incrementally adding value thru more intricate designs and inviting guest artisans as the prices crept upward (seemingly nearing parity with the secondary market based on BST offerings becoming available whilst public perception remains high) AND had the wisdom to offer a comprehensively custom niche offering for those wanting something special or willing to jump the line at any cost - doing so without assuming the potentially business model ending risk Varlet has embraced.
Somebody flippantly mentioned that were the badgers differentiated from those generally used for knots, there might be added value. Truth told, were a manufacturer to undertake a nonlethal harvesting of badger hair using animals raised on farms treated humanely, I would sell my meager stock of brushes and likely pay a significant premium for a socially responsible badger brush but such is not the case here. Perhaps this is a viable business model for an aspiring premium brush maker.
Stipulated Varlet has a right to sell their goods employing any pricing structure they wish but as a very wise HR executive relayed to me when discussing employee accountability: there is no rule banning defecation during rush hour in the middle of runway 27R at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport BUT if one chooses such an ill advised plan, there are dire consequences. Fully realize going to be met with pitchforks and torches by the market fundamentalist mob demanding the witch be burned to save the good people from heresy and Supply Side Jesus' wrath but there you have it.
