Recently I read about how the Sears Corporation trumped the traditionally low price leaders of Wal-Mart and Amazon.com in the field of books. For the avid reader, reduced pricing is a positive as they can now purchase the books they want at a much reduced cost. However, this has caused quite a stir with the American Booksellers Association (ABA) as they feel the continued reduction in pricing will diminish the funds available for publishers and authors therefore reducing the number of books being published and therefore limiting the range of expression that could come from less mainstream authors.

You can see the same concerns in the CE world as not only are the small retailers hurt by the major chain stores due to greatly reduced margins, but ultimately it’s the consumer who pays the price as the manufacturers, under pressure from the retailers to lower pricing, have to focus on reducing their costs and increasing output. This in a way lowers the overall quality of goods and reduces the lifespan of products.

At Vinpower Digital we are constantly battling between offering a greater product and yet keeping our pricing competitive with those on the market more concerned about sales than quality. Since most duplicator sellers are merely intermediaries and have very little interaction with the customer after the sale, they often could care less about the quality of the product and whether the low price is truly a good value or a ploy. They are more concerned about getting the sale because with the reduced margins, they are forced to care more about volume than customer service. Those that do emphasize customer service over pricing tend to have a loyal following of customers, but often loose footing to the companies who just move boxes.

Fortunately we are in a unique position where we move enough volume to keep our costs low which can be passed on to our resellers and ultimately to the customer. At the same time, as one of the very few duplicator manufacturers we also care deeply about the quality and ability of our products, so we are constantly striving to improve and develop new features and products that meet the consumer’s needs.

As a consumer myself, I’m all for lower prices, but I also recognize that quality has a cost associated with it, and often times it’s better to pay a little more now than a lot more later.