Hi Everyone,
Hope you have time to read, this one is going to take a while but I'll try to skip all the BS in between.
About Us:
1. We sell videos/dvd's (multiple studios), sex toys, erotic art, pride jewelry and erotic chocolates.
2. We price shop the competition on movies.
3. We're a free site to browse.
4. We're small potatoes compared to most adult websites and haven't done any advertising (Google/Overture) over the last 4 years until this year. Just basic SE submissions and SEO (on our own, not contracted out).
Situation:
1. We watched a company (no names mentioned) make a BIG push into the gay market and doing advertising with Overture and Google.
2. We priced shopped them only to discover that they were giving away the farm on ALL studios.
EXAMPLE:
We were selling one particular studio for $46.95 that listed for $59.99 retail. Other competitors were selling them anywere from $47.88 up to $59.99.
This company is selling the same studio for $39.95. Plus, they give customers a free compilation video if they buy any 3 movies.
3. We noticed our sales drop significantly on this one particular studio (and so did the studio notice). We've been one of their largest resellers.
4. We priced matched this new company on this one particular studio to see if indeed this was part of the reason for a drop in sales.
5. BINGO!!! Our sales are back up and many of our regular customers are ordering from us again on this studio.
Okay, we all know that customer service is an important topic. I've been in CS for over 30 years, trust me I know how important good CS is to a customer.
HOWEVER, agree with me or not, it's my experience that buyers of porn, are continually shopping prices and provided a site looks trustworthy enough, if they find a better price, they're going to buy elsewhere.
Okay, with that said...
Next Situation:
We started price matching them across the board on all studios. In some cases however, when their prices were all over the board on a particular studio, we elected to take the "middle of the road".
Example:
If they were from $29.95 to $36.95 on a studio, we just went $34.95. (this seemed to work pretty well we discovered and our sales were up across the board again)
Now comes the twist...
1. Two (2) studios contacted me about our new pricing.
2. Both studios contacted me on the same day.
Now I didn't just "fall off the turnip truck" or "was born yesterday". It's obvious we get shopped too by our competitors and someone was complaining about our prices.
My first thought... we're small potatoes... why isn't this person shopping a little more thoroughly? If so, they would discover this other site just as we did. IMO, it's someone that's knows us or we have done business with in the past. In any case, that's besides the point.
FACT:
a) I know we were the first to bring this new company pricing to the attention of the one particular studio I mentioned in the first part of this post.
b) I know we were the first to bring this new company pricing to the attention of the distributors we buy other studios product from.
c) I know we were the first to bring this new company pricing to the attention of Colt and numerous other studios.
d) I DID NOT bring this new company pricing to the attention of the two (2) studios that contacted me about our pricing. I did when they contacted me.
Okay, with all of that said, I know that all products have their basic set value. That's obvious when you go shopping even at Wal-Mart. They're generally not $10, $20 or more $$$ less expensive on name brand products.
Studios don't like seeing one of their movies, expecially new releases that retails for $60 selling at $39.95.
AGAIN... we're small potatoes compared to other adult reseller sites. If we lose 50 sales in a given month, we're going to notice it and question why. And then do our best to get the business back.
I welcome any feedback on this matter.
PapaBear
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