Afiq’s 5 Ps in FingerTec: Part 4
'Afiq’s 5 Ps in FingerTec’ is a 5-part mini-series chronicling
the writer’s observations on FingerTec Worldwide through the 5 Ps of marketing
as he stumbles along his first year in the company. In Part 3, the writer
discusses the Pricing component of the tool. You can read the past
installments here: Part 1 · Part 2 · Part 3
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| Afiq's remix - Time in Business is Priceless! |
Pricing
Upon entering FingerTec HQ last year, I was given a rough picture of FingerTec's marketing strategies including a hand-drawn graph of where the company stood in the market in terms of pricing by my always-on-the-go COO, Ms. Norana Johar. A very high-tech presentation, indeed. Jokes aside, the pricing strategies used revealed a lot about the company just like it would for any other company and I'm not at liberty to discuss them in detail. Therefore, I will instead discuss certain aspects about pricing in general, and try to see if we can relate it back to FingerTec. Wish me luck. Now let's read more!
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| Afiq's remix - To be stingy with security is to ignore life |
Low Pricing is Always Good?
There is a misconception that consumers will almost always choose less expensive brands, because they offer better savings. Is this happening in the biometrics industry, specifically with access control solutions? Very unlikely. Due to the nature of our market, a cheaper alternative to satisfy one's security needs sort of beats the purpose of having security in the first place. As a preventive measure that can save a company substantial amounts in preventing security breaches, consumers are actually more comfortable with higher priced alternatives because of the psychological assurance that comes with these products. So, no. Low is a no-go.
Buy at High Prices, Then?
Hold your horses. Yes, high-priced products usually signify high quality, but this is not 100% accurate. Some companies invest heavily in certain aspects of their business that does not contribute to the product's primary functions, such as branding and advertisements, which leads to customers paying substantially more for a company's goodwill than the product itself. This drives the production costs up, without actually improving the product, while still passing on the increase to customers! (What type of modern business practice is this?) FingerTec shies away from this, as the company focuses on holistic activities that also add value as 'augmented products' to our solutions. This helps ensure that a majority of the company's resources are spent on benefits that can be directly passed on to the consumer, instead of having a pricey brand just for the sake of having a well-known brand. See, high prices are not the tell-all factor either.
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| Afiq's remix - You spend my money, it'll COST you! |
Closing Thoughts
Pricing is a very sensitive component in economics whereby, as the law of demand and supply would show you, even the slightest change in price can cause an avalanche of change. Customers would always try to look for the best deal that applies to their own situations, but finding the 'best deal' is sometimes impossible to do because of the lack of available knowledge regarding a product and its substitutes in the market. With that in mind, FingerTec is aiming to shift its focus to sharing even more relevant resources regarding our products and the industries involved to make it easier for customers to learn about the technologies and issues involved. Hopefully with the abundance of informative materials we have already scheduled in the second half of 2013, knowing our products better will lead to our pricing becoming just a minor part in customers' decision-making process.
About the writer: Afiq Jauhari is a Malaysian Malay male in his late 20s, previously working in a local banking institution before joining FingerTec Worldwide in December 2012 as a Junior Copywriter. His interests include basketball, comedy and writing; and still dreams of becoming a well-liked, funny basketball coach with a few bestselling books.
About the writer: Afiq Jauhari is a Malaysian Malay male in his late 20s, previously working in a local banking institution before joining FingerTec Worldwide in December 2012 as a Junior Copywriter. His interests include basketball, comedy and writing; and still dreams of becoming a well-liked, funny basketball coach with a few bestselling books.
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