12 replies to this topic

[davidstummer]

I am doing business in the UK. Is is legal to list other companies' prices next to mine to show that i sell the product cheaper (naming each company)?

eg;

My price = £34
abc's price = £40
123's price = £35

thanks

[james8547]

I don't know in the UK, but in the US it is ok as long as you put when and where you got the competitors' prices. Netzero free internet has a tv commercial similar to yours...comparing it's price to MSN and AOL. They put a small disclaimer showing where and when they got the prices.

[meandrew]

Did you complete this competitors price inot the cart?

Andrew

[onioncream]

To do this I think you would need to constantly be updating your competitions prices.

If somebody were to list my prices innacurately and make me lose business I would realy be pissed off.

Unless your selling a few exclusive items then I wouldnt bother with all that trouble.

[FlyingMonkey]

off topic: but, that would be a pretty neat contribution... if someone was to make it spider competitor sites to retrieve that information.

i believe it's legal in the US, not sure about elsewhere.

Edited by FlyingMonkey, 21 August 2004, 23:26.

[Mibble]

this could be a negative though, as it may have the customer thinking if so and so has it at price a, you have it at price b, what do the other sellers of this product have it at? they may leave the site and then not come back.

[Sapphire2]

It is perfectly legal to post the competitions prices just as long as you make sure you state where you found this price and on which date.

[FlyingMonkey]

hmm... what if we had a competitive spider just to know their prices? so we can adjust our business/prices correctly. any ideas on how to code one?

Edited by FlyingMonkey, 23 August 2004, 04:24.

[MYC267]

Creating a spider to do that is just taking it to the extreme. In my opinion if your competitive advantage is ONLY pricing and you have to go that that extent tp show customers that then your wasting your time. You need to have a unique value offering... price alone isn't enough.

[FlyingMonkey]

i meant it in addition to just pricing. understandably, the best business is not always the cheapest. it'd just be nice to know what to price your products to be around without actually having to search for each one individually. in the case of larger stores.

[kteller8]

in the case of larger stores. they can afford to give low prices, they do more bulk inventory

next to that, you got to the larger stores and others for "CUSTOMER SUPPORT"

believe me ask anyone who saved a few bucks and later got screwed out on something.. they would of paid full price or the differene to have that peice of mind


i got a few items, that i sell because i personally will add a year to the manufactors warrenty.. deep down i know its not going to break, but factory gives one year, ill offer two.. no one else will do that, so i get more ppl cause they are feeling a bit "safer" with me..

but like stated if you live based on only Others prices, you ll eventually crumble within.. you can only match and go "so low", then ppl start to sell for 10 over cost and then 5 over cost, then sell at 3 bucks over cost to sell more bulk to make more sales

and you end up selling 100 units a 2 bucks , instead of 10 units at 10 bucks..


OH MY, THE MADNESS~~!

[dakatone]

You all are describing something in the business world known as USP, or Unique Selling Proposition. A USP is essentially what sets you apart from the competition. Why would a customer buy from you instead of so-and-so? Lower prices are only one particular USP genre.

One of the things you need to do FIRST is define your business's USP. Do not let pricing run the show either. The number one reason someone would buy from me instead of my larger chain competitors is value, reputation and personable service. Work all that into how you display, sell and market your products; how you treat and handle your customers; and how you talk about your business. It all leads to someone recognizing your business simply from its USP.

An obvious example is the Wal-Mart chain of stores. They used to use "Made in America" as a USP. You bought from Wal-Mart because you wanted to support American-based industries and jobs (if it is applicable to you of course). Now, they use pricing structure as their USP with the catch-phrase "Always." “Low prices always”. If someone says that, you immediately think Wal-Mart.

So what am I getting at? Good question. Although this may in fact be a spectacular idea for many Websites, it will in fact be a poor choice for far too many. If everyone chooses the same USP (i.e. the Progressive Auto Insurance USP of offering three of their competitors' prices) then you will not achieve their level of uniqueness. Instead, use the same genre of lower prices, but implicate it in a unique way. A contribution of these sorts would do absolutely no good unless you drastically altered it.

And even if you are using it as a shortcut to check competitors' prices, you will miss quite a bit by not doing things the traditional way. By checking my competitors' Websites, I not only get their prices, but also a sense of their direction in marketing, product display, design, etc. The list goes on forever. Do not shortcut your way to disaster.

I truly hope that this has helped many of you, and hopefully it will get many of you to establish your USP if you have not already. It will greatly help you in selling on the Web.

Ruhl

[kingdonk]

Rather than showing your competitors prices you cold list the RRP (recomended retail price) which is waht you would pay for in the shops or what the manufactures would recomend you sell it at, then next to it list your price.
Quick easy and no legialites.