In a rush to make a lot of money “the quick way” some of airbrush manufacturers make a lot of mistakes. What do I mean? It has been said here many times already. Some manufacturers think that making the product cheaper will bring more sales but they are forgetting about the quality. (For example – master airbrush or paasche talon).
The manufacturer’s first intention should be to bring the value and allow those who appreciate that value to pay more for it.
You see, for single artist to pay $100 for airbrush is more than enough, especially when he is just starting. But for someone who works for a big company paying a few more hundreds won’t be much of a problem. I’m sure he will reach for Iwata.
It’s strange for me to see that on the Hi-End side of airbrush niche there is practically no competition for Iwata for the particular price range. They dominate the market and people are still buying their product even if you consider the high price. It is for lack of demand from customers if not for any other reason that they are not producing airbrush models such as Custom Microns anymore.
Those Chinese knock offs which are selling for $20 are far from a quality product.
“It’s hard to make a good profit selling that low” Tweet this
So, what’s the point?
If I told you that I’d have an airbrush for sale for price of $80 and I will compare it to some other more expensive airbrush which price I don’t have control over – for example airbrush of a famous brand in a beautiful case with additional hose and couple of needle-nozzle set, which costs around $200.
Suddenly the $80 for single airbrush in a cardboard box sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?
Placing second offer on the market with a different price completely changes the whole situation.
Watch this, by adding even more, for example a video course or a book (i.e how to airbrush for beginners) the price increases even more.
A week ago I read a story about similar situation. One website quoted some pieces from William Poundstone book “Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and how to take advantage of it)”
People were offered two kinds of beer: premium beer for $2.50 and bargain beer for $1.80. Around 80% chose the more expensive beer.
Now a third beer was introduced, a super bargain beer for $1.60, in addition to the previous two. Now 80% bought the $1.80 beer and the rest $2.50 beer. Nobody bought the cheapest option.
What an influence! The seller has actually lost a lot because of introducing a cheaper alternative.
Third time around, they removed the $1.60 beer and replaced with a super-premium $3.40 beer. Most people chose the $2.50 beer, a small number $1.80 beer and around 10% opted for the most expensive $3.40 beer. Some people will always buy the most expensive option, no matter the price.
As you can see and it’s easy to calculate that by changing option for more expensive, the seller increases his revenue. Alright, that’s all just a theory. What if we apply that into our airbrush niche?
Can airbrush manufacturer gain something by applying theory described above in the real world? Well, for us consumers, the quality is probably the most important, so I think it is worth of thinking about it. As to myself I would probably be among the middle group of buyers.
Also I’ve found out that giving too many choices may cause the confusion and people will leave without buying anything. So in that beer example they recommended to keep the offer at three or less, max four.
We were simulating a real situation with 3 options of airbrushes and here are results. Which one will you choose? Please let me know in comments.
Please share. Cheers.
