In the science and technology circle, we often refer to companies that have a particularly clear positioning of the same series of products as "accurate knife techniques", represented by NVIDIA CEO Huang Jenxun. Lao Huang is often ridiculed by users as a "leather knife knifeman", under the old Yellow knife method, NVIDIA graphics card performance levels and price differences are extremely accurate, which also makes Lao Huang famous for the accurate positioning of the product. Similarly, the precision of the knife method can also be used to describe the company, the precise positioning of products, price segmentation of the company abounds, and Apple is one of the ones who has cultivated this craft to perfection.
From Apple's quarterly earnings reports, we can clearly see that Apple is not only a giant company that has long occupied the world's largest market capitalization, but also one of the world's most gold-sucking companies. There are many factors that make so much money, product positioning and price determination must be a basic skill.
Product positioning is clear, the knife method is more accurate, which is very important for the company's operation, and each product is accurately positioned to the target user.
In fact, when talking about knife methods, we can further extend to the design of the manufacturer's purposeful pricing of the product. In addition to superficially making the product division more precise, manufacturers are often guiding consumers to buy more expensive products through such a knife method - although everyone knows it, but if it is just on the pain point, it has to be cruel to make the wallet suffer a little. There will be no "son beating daddy" situation. And accurate pricing or positioning can even form an effect of promoting consumers to buy high matching, in the low allocation and "add a little money" on the high match, I believe it is a problem that every consumer has faced.
One
For consumers, although subject to different financial situations, the psychology of buying things is mostly within the limits of income, pursuing the best choice within the affordable range. Take Apple's iPad device, one of the best-selling tablets on the market, and choosing between different versions of an iPad device is not an easy task.
The basic iPad is already pretty good, but over time, its design and accessories have become obsolete, and it only supports the old first-generation Apple Pencil, not even fully screen-fitting. Most users will not choose the current entry-level iPad. For now, the all-new iPad Air is by far the most comprehensive option, at an affordable price, and supports the keyboard and accessories of the iPad Pro. But that's where Apple's ruse gets more subtle. The iPad Air has only two storage options — 64 GB and 256 GB — and cutting out 128 GB is also Apple's legacy. The 64 GB iPad Air costs $4,399, but if you're a creator, or someone who just wants to download tons of music, movies, episodes and games on a tablet, 64GB of storage is a bit stretched — and Apple knows it all.
Therefore, the price of the 256 GB iPad Air has reached 5499 yuan - under the premise that everything is the same, just more storage space. At this time, you may hate Apple to the point of gritting your teeth. The price of 5499 yuan is very close to the iPad Pro starting price, and the price of 6199 yuan is 700 yuan higher than that of the 256GB iPad Air. For users who want to enter the 256GB version, "then why not just buy the 128GB iPad Pro?" ”
Two
Admittedly, this year's 3rd generation iPhone SE doesn't seem to be as popular as it was when the 2nd generation came out. Stock nemesis, iPhone 8 appearance, just updated processor seems to be no longer able to attract users - although this chip has surpassed all the Android camp flagship chips.
But there is no doubt that the iPhone SE must be positioned at the entry level, it needs to be "lower end" than the iPhone 13 series, otherwise most consumers will only buy the SE model? The "retro" look is a good differentiating strategy, and when kids who are about to enter college, there is a high probability that they will insist that their parents buy them an iPhone 13 instead of an iPhone SE. Apple was willing to make the iPhone SE deliberately appear to be the Old School to be distinctly different from the flagship iPhone. That way, even most users who don't care about flagship bells and whistles will choose to skip it, based solely on its appearance.
For Apple, the construction of Max, Pro, Standard Edition, and mini product sequences is a sign of the further improvement of Apple's price strategy, and it also further expands the high profits brought by the value advantage. The launch of the SE model is even more reflected - Apple has played the price strategy clearly. Not only in the high-end market, but also ambitiously into the mid-market. Accurate price control, coupled with the control of configuration costs, the 3rd generation iPhone SE is expected to reproduce the glory of the second generation. But even so, I'm not optimistic about this device.
In general, storage space is something that Apple requires much higher than the actual cost of "more storage space" as a component. As in the case of the iPad, the storage options on the iPhone 13 tend to slowly let consumers turn to the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, as higher storage specifications are likely to become more expensive.
The price of the iPhone 13 with the maximum storage capacity is only 400 yuan different from the 256 GB iPhone 13 Pro; And the basic iPhone 13 Pro is even cheaper than the top-of-the-line iPhone 13 — so users may find themselves thinking about buying a Pro at least when making a choice, "because you're already going to spend that much money." ”
Apple's tight grip on storage expansion on the iPhone is also for this reason.
In addition, Apple's pricing strategy is also related to people's shopping psychology. Less than a whole number is more likely to feel cheap, although the number is very close to the round. Take, for example, the fire-fired Apple polishing cloth, which sells for $19 abroad. The number "9" has always been a commonly used number in product pricing, and the price of $19 can be said to be "not high or low", $9 will appear too cheap, and $19 retains the feeling of quality products. Of course, the domestic price went straight to 145 yuan, and the first batch was also snapped up. In China, the price of iPhone is mostly defined by "xx99", and the effect is the same. Abel Saeed, a partner at upCounting, an e-commerce information site, said that Apple hopes to ensure an excellent shopping experience for "fruit fans", even if the products bought by consumers are not so outstanding, "it will feel good." ”
With a full range of pricing strategies, precise product cutting, and attractive price values, Apple's "conspiracy" does not stop there in order to make you pay more money.