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How Much Are You Paying For Electronics Labels?

Posted by timothy on from the is-that-a-bugle-boy-accesss-point dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Interesting article on CNET about different consumer electronics brands selling identical OEM products, often at wildly different price points. The author also examines the phenomenon of manufacturers releasing "consumer" and "industrial" versions of the same product -- with the cheaper version aimed at businesses. Probably old news for the slashdot crowd, but it's worth reading to see how much Middle America is overpaying. Caveat emptor, indeed." And there are also product lines where the expensive version is aimed at business buyers, because a higher price implies greater credibility.

4 of 548 comments (clear)

  1. Not just electronics by k4_pacific · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A friend of mine worked in a factory that made liquid soap. She ran a bottling machine. She said there would be batches of hundreds of bottles at a time. Each batch would have a different label, and would sell at a different price in the store. But they were filling them with the same slop from the same tank.

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    Unknown host pong.
    1. Re:Not just electronics by JanneM · · Score: 5, Interesting

      A high-school friend worked in a similar place, making shampoo, when she was interning as a chemist. At the plant they added "profitone" - which was their internal joke name for water. They would have exactly the same soap base, but then add different batches of coloring, jelling agents, odorants, and, of course, "profitone".

      Make the product more "luxurious": more jelling agent - "Ohh, look how rich and creamy it is!". Make a "sport-type" shampoo: more water and an odor that is more acidic and less flowery.

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      Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
  2. Re:Old News Indeed by kfg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ever notice that competing businesses often locate next to each other? This is not so much to take business away from the other, but it's been found that the appearance of competition drives sales, so they both get more business than if they located seperately. The ultimate example of this is the shopping mall.

    Ever notice "clumps" of shoe stores at the mall? They're often owned by the same company to imply competition between them when there isn't any really.

    The implication of competition drives sales so they set up the implication artificially.

    Proctor & Gamble are masters of working this, many cleaning products advertised as being better than the other are the same except for their packaging and a difference in the food coloring added, and the same as a bargain brand for a fraction the cost.

    And the same as the "house" brand at a fraction of that cost.

    KFG

  3. Customer Expectations by hudsucker · · Score: 5, Interesting
    (sorry if too far off topic...)

    In the 80's I worked in a commercial photo finishing lab -- the place your film gets processed when you drop it off at a grocery store.

    They charged more to develop ISO 400 film than ISO 100 film. The explanation was that the customers thought that since ISO 400 film was more expensive, it would be harder or more costly to process it.

    But the fact was that all C-41 films went through exactlythe same process. In fact, it costs less to process ISO 400, because more silver is recovered for recycling during the process.

    So the conclusion is, they charge what people are willing to pay.