Forgive me if I'm thick, but what could the following, posted on amazon.com when one wants to see the hidden price of an item, possibly mean? I've read through it a few times, but every time I read it it seems progressively to degenerate into abstruse mumbo-jumbo:
"Why Don't We Show the Price?
"Manufacturers sometimes ask that retailers not display a price if it drops below a certain amount. The 'click here to see price' message indicates that the price of the item is so low that the manufacturer requested that it not be advertised (that is, displayed). In a brick-and-mortar store, you would probably have to ask a salesperson what the price of the product is. At Amazon, by clicking on 'click here to see price' you are essentially asking to see the price, at which point we show it to you."
Whaaa?
Well, that's miserably phrased, but the phenomenon is known as the "Minimum Advertised Price." Retailers get ad money from some manufacturers only if their price is over a certain amount. I'm not exactly sure what the reasoning is. But it's the reason, for example, that a 4-Gbyte iPod nano is just about $200, wherever you buy it.
ReplyDeleteA "real world" retailer could lower the price and just not advertise the item. An online retailer like Amazon can't even put it on the page with the product info.
Does that make slightly more sense?
It makes my head hurt!
ReplyDelete