Thousands of yuan Millet TV maintenance costs upside down, why can't a good horse afford a good saddle?

There are not many celebrities, and Xiaomi, which has a large number of fan fans, has recently been rushed to the cusp of the storm. The cause of the incident is that after the consumer purchased the Xiaomi TV, just after 3 years of warranty, there was a flower screen phenomenon, and in the after-sales process, it was told that "only the screen can be changed", and the overall screen change fee was calculated to be more than 3,000 yuan, accounting for 80% of the original price of the TV. "This is too exaggerated", consumers simply gave up the maintenance, "buy a new one is not fragrant?" ”

Maintenance costs are upside down, is Xiaomi intentionally looking for stubble, or is the user taking advantage of the low price and delaying the payment? The story behind this may not be so simple.

Can afford a horse, can't afford a saddle?

Like the Xiaomi TV, the maintenance cost is upside down, and the price of accessories almost exceeds the phenomenon of the whole machine, commonly known as "can afford to buy a horse, can not afford a saddle", which is common in various fields. Taking luxury cars as an example, many brands of entry-level luxury cars may only need three or four hundred thousand, which is really heartwarming. But when it comes to repairs and maintenance prices are less beautiful. For example, Lexus ES series, starting from 300,000 yuan is not high, but because it is a pure imported car, replacement accessories must also rely on imports, and maintenance costs are naturally expensive. According to a report released by the Insurance Association of China, it is estimated that the total price of parts for a car priced at 300,000 yuan is as high as 1.8 million yuan. It really makes people see what a "luxury car" is.

According to the automotive field, the zero ratio of lexus ES series reached 600%, the so-called zero ratio, it refers to the sum of spare parts prices and the ratio of the price of the vehicle, the higher the zero ratio, the higher the maintenance cost, the higher the cost of use. Similarly, as the BMW X1, the most popular BMW family, its zero-to-whole ratio is also as high as 628%, if you want to fight a BMW series, you have to spend more than six times the price.

Such an exaggerated zero-to-piece ratio is not a patent in the automotive field. Although the zero ratio of smart phones is not as exaggerated as that of luxury cars, but the same repair is more expensive than buying, with its representative Apple mobile phone as an example, there are industry media statistics, iPhone XS zero ratio reached 134%, to the "king of cost performance" out of the circle of Xiaomi mobile phone, Xiaomi 8 zero ratio also reached 124%. Therefore, the Xiaomi TV of this incident, whose maintenance costs are upside down, can also be explained by the zero-to-integer ratio.

Losing money? Merchants beware of the machine

The sum of the price of accessories far exceeds the price, and the loss of money is profitable? In a market economy, there is no business that is not for profit. What you buy is not sold, and it is universally applicable.

Behind the high price of accessories, there are preferential prices for bulk purchases, and there are also reduced costs of assembly line operations, in general, the brand will not lose money because of the high cost of materials. On the contrary, seemingly profit-making behavior often leads to higher returns.

First of all, in the competitive environment of the in-roll industry, high quality and low price are the most direct way to stand out. According to the relevant media statistics, its sales volume ranked first in Chinese mainland shipments for eleven consecutive quarters, and its global TV shipments ranked in the top five. Needless to say, the appeal of the entry-level luxury car is self-explanatory.

Secondly, for many products, the purchase is a low-frequency event, but repair and maintenance is an absolute high-frequency event. The internationally renowned automobile research company "iSeeCars" released a survey report, in terms of the most popular SUVs on the market, its average shelf life is 8.3 years, but according to the situation familiar to the public, the car maintenance cycle is generally 6 months to about a year. In the mainland, dealers generally require that they must go to the 4S shop for maintenance to enjoy the warranty, because with such unwritten "overlord clauses", its follow-up profits are quite considerable.

Coincidentally, mobile phones are the same. Relevant statistics show that the average broken screen maintenance rate of smart phones is 8%, and the average broken screen maintenance rate of domestic mainstream models of 2000-3999 yuan reaches 8.9%. At the same time, the mobile phone screen repair price ratio is 15%-30%, and the average broken screen 3-4 times is equivalent to buying a new mobile phone. Some consumers joke that "you can afford to buy a mobile phone, you can't break the screen.". This is why "broken screen insurance" is selling so hot.

Finally, high-quality and low-price + hunger marketing to create a fan economy can be said to be invincible. Take millet, there are indeed some products have a very high cost performance, at the beginning of the establishment of the brand, through the "purchase restriction", "seconds no", "fans are king" and other ways to quickly accumulate popularity and reputation, the following years millet ecology gradually took shape, the concept of smart home to create more and more explosive products, mobile phones have long been not the only important profitable products of the millet brand. Through the "horses" that were initially sold at low prices, Xiaomi sold more and more "saddles".

Consumers are becoming more and more savvy, is the merchant's abacus still smart?

But will consumers always be blinded by the trap of a high "zero-to-whole ratio"? The uproar caused by the Xiaomi TV "flower screen" incident seems to indicate something. On social platforms, the discussion about Xiaomi TV's "over-guarantee is flower screen" has intensified. At the moment when the information spreads so quickly, the merchant's wishful thinking is not so smart.

As Gen Z consumers take the mainstream shopping stage, new consumption characteristics are beginning to emerge.

Compared with the previous generation's concern for brands, young people are not so loyal to brands, and the Internet allows them to accept more new things and make full comparisons before shopping. Previously, the IBM Institute for Business Value conducted a global survey of 15,600 consumers aged 13-21, and only 36% of respondents said they had a strong relationship or solid loyalty with a brand.

Based on this, more and more consumers began to doubt the "brand premium", and they began to think about whether the product behind the logo itself was worth this price. Like many things in nature, commodities follow the law of two and eight. That is to say, for the vast majority of goods, we do not need to buy the most expensive "flagship products", only need to spend 20% of the price, you can have an alternative to its 80% performance, why not enjoy it?

Take the car, often a 200,000 car, its comprehensive performance can reach 80% of the million luxury car

It is precisely because of this that when consumers who originally have a try-and-run mentality are scared off by high maintenance costs, they will have a sense of distrust of the brand and then switch to other similar products. This gives more emerging brands the opportunity, but also brings new challenges to merchants who are accustomed to "conventional" marketing methods.

The so-called shopping trap of "can't afford to buy a horse, can't afford a saddle", how long can it be proud? (Text/Zhiton Qingfeng)