Re: International Pricing Policy

Q Correll wrote:

PMJI,... however, I personally do NOT think that is a true, or fair,
statement.

Q - Jump in by all means - you are certainly entitled to your opinion,
however wrong I think it is ;-)

I understand can appreciate the frustration of the appearance of
being "ripped-off" by the price one pays in different countries
compared to the US MSRP (United States Manufacturers Suggested Retail
Price) or whatever "special" (circumstance(s)) pricing.

Try living in the UK, and see how many US companies think that $1 = £1.
The joke wears thin after a while. CodeGear are not the only culprits.

However, having in the past had to market and sell [computer and
software] products in other countries from my "manufacturing base"
country I know from first hand experience that the problem is not
that simple. Nor do I believe for one microsecond that CodeGear's or
Nick's motivation is to "gouge" their non-US customers!

Sadly I disagree. The whole thrust of Nick's philosophical musings here
is that price has no relation to cost, and is ONLY a matter of what
customers are willing to pay. Us foreigners are obviously willing to
pay more for Delphi, and so CodeGear are obliged to extract every last
cent.

The truth(s) of the matter is(are) that it can be a very complex
situation and different for every country one must deal with in order
to market and sell their products. And it can be further complicated
by existing contracts, exchange rates, etc., etc., etc.,.

We are a small (< 20 people) company, yet we manage to sell hardware
and software all around the world, with far more complex products than
CodeGear, in ranges from US$10K to US100K, with some contracts far
bigger than that. The commercial terms involved can be extremely
complex, and vary from installation to installation. Do we try and
maximise profits on every sale - of course we do. What we DON'T do is
start with a price list that varies from country to country.

We charge in our own currency. Exchange rate fluctuations make our
product more / less attractive, but the basic price is set in £Sterling.

The ideal of "One world, one price." is more obvious these days with
the "visibility" we now have with the Internet and the business
possibilities it provides.

If our software was standalone, we would move to a direct web sales
setup faster than a student moving to the bar on free beer night ;-)

The days of actively preventing people from purchasing a software
download because they live in a different place should be long gone.

Jim Douglas seems to want to simplify the business. Direct sales should
be the first step.

I think that over time many, hopefully most, of these now glaring
situations will eventually be resolved. However, I don't think it's
fair to attack Nick and CodeGear, et al, for being maliciously greedy
as your statement implies.

I wouldn't say malicious. I could probably stretch to rapacious,
though. Thank god I'm not in the market for plywood ;-)


Ian
.

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