Repricing Like A Fool
Ok, now most of you who read these know that I am not one to go on repricing rants. In fact, I am usually casually suggesting online booksellers reprice frequently during key, peak, times.
Nevertheless, I am becoming increasingly irritated at the repricing methods of some booksellers. One thing that I want everyone to keep in mind is what is your intended consequence from repricing. I hope the the objective is to sell the book as quickly as possible. However, you always need to remember what type of buyer is seeking your book.
Let me provide two examples. A pop-fiction book consumer may be influenced into a sale based on price. Their behavior, as a target market, tends to be more “browsing” or looking into possibly buying. On the other hand, consumers in search of academic texts tend to have very specific titles that they must get. A student doesn’t choose to purchase an esoteric text for his class, thesis, or dissertation … he or she cannot hawk over the price, waiting for you to drop it below a certain point and then buy. He or she wants/needs it immediately, and while definitely looking for the lowest price, cannot afford (time) to be so price sensitive.
In practice it may look something like this: Seller A is competing intensely with Sellers B, C, and D at $75 on title X. Seller B gets impatient and drops the price to $25 instead of $74.99 or $74. If it sells there - BAM - he’s just cheated himself out of $50, because that buyer probably was going to purchase the text at $25 or $74.99. for most esoteric books you must be pecient. Here is where we compound the problem. After seller B reprices so brashly, the other sellers may wait a few days and hope he is eliminated from the marketplace (with a sale). However, more likely, the other sellers eventually follow Sellers B down to $25 where they battle anew.
Please, keep our market competitive, but don’t squash it entirely for no beneficial reason.
