Re: Cranky Kim

[Kim Flint <kflint@loopers-delight.com>]

At 09:41 AM 8/26/2003, Greg House wrote:
>Kim wrote:
> > >Whether poor people think it is expensive or not doesn't really
> > >matter, because no matter what price it is they don't ever buy it 
>anyway.
>
>This sounds like a very cynical take on things. Getting things into the 
>"impulse
>purchase", or even the "minimal thought" price ranges certainly DO 
>increase
>sales...especially for "take it or leave it" type specialty items.

that's exactly what I said in my original message. I also pointed out that 
the people making impulse buying decisions are not poor people. People 
with 
money make impulse buys. The thread was about poor people complaining 
about 
the prices of things they can't afford, and I pointed out that their 
complaints fall on deaf ears because they never buy anything anyway. They 
don't. They do have a lot of time on their hands to complain a lot though.

>I think this is the reason the Boomerang never really "took off". It was 
>about
>$200 too expensive.

the boomerang has stayed in production for a long time and seems to do 
just 
fine. I see people with them all over the place. Where do you get the 
impression it hasn't done well?

>Likewise with the EDP. The high entry price restricts it to
>people who REALLY WANT it, and that means it'll never be a big seller.

Every EDP that has been made was sold at about that price. The new 
Echoplex 
Plus version seems to be selling fine. Clearly the market did not have a 
problem with the price. Frequently it was backordered for months, 
indicating the price was in fact too low at times. Demand exceeded supply 
for most of the history of the product.

What happened to you is the market priced you out of the picture. I guess 
your fellow loopers have more money than you, as plenty of them are 
willing 
to pay more than you've got. Sorry if that makes you feel bad, but that is 
a problem for you and not the Echoplex.


>If the EDP had been $500 a couple of years ago, I probably would have 
>bought one instead of the Repeater that I did buy. Why? Because that's as 
>much money as I had at the time and the Repeater was available at that 
>price. The features were cool, but I didn't really even know what I 
>wanted 
>in a looper at that time, I just wanted something a little more powerful 
>then the borrowed DL4 I was using. The extra $200 for the EDP is the 
>primary reason I picked the Repeater.

Great! I hope you enjoy your Repeater. I bought two when they came out. 
Meanwhile, all the available Echoplexes at the time sold out at the higher 
price. So why should anybody have cared about your $200 deficit? Certainly 
there is no reason to lower the price of something if you are going to 
sell 
all of them anyway at the higher price.

In fact, Electrix would have sold the same number of Repeaters if their 
price had been higher. I still would have bought two, and somebody else 
would have bought yours. They might still be here if they had done that. 
They essentially gave money away with each one they sold.

>Now, don't get me wrong (especially my more crabby sounding post from last
>night). I UNDERSTAND why the EDP costs what it does. It's a specialty 
>item, sold into a small specialty market, with low demand and high 
>development costs. That means the price will be high.

No, clearly you don't understand pricing. The Echoplex is priced where it 
is because that is what the market is willing to pay for it. They sell 
fine 
at that price. If it cost $1 to make it, the price would still be the same 
because that is what people are obviously happy to pay for it.

>That doesn't mean I like it that way. It's just sad to me that more 
>people 
>don't see the point, to where it could sell enough to be a
>good selling item.

I don't know where you guys get this "poor selling" impression. It sells 
great, given the size of the market. I certainly wouldn't mind if 100 
times 
more units got sold. Then I could get my car. But that requires expanding 
the market, not lowering the price. Better visibility and wider interest 
in 
looping would do that. Hopefully those things will come.

Of course, then there will just be more people buying echoplexes at the 
current price, and you still wouldn't be able to afford one. Save your 
pennies! Or as David pointed out, $24/mo. Cut back on the Frappacinos and 
you're there!

kim


______________________________________________________________________
Kim Flint                     | Looper's Delight
kflint@loopers-delight.com    | http://www.loopers-delight.com