The Concept of Value, or Why Price Cuts Can Fail

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Slimebeast said:

LG[Infinite] said:

 

Given all of this, what effect will a PS3 price-cut have? The answer is: not much. The values offered by the PS3 (i.e. the services it provides) are not what consumers deem valuable. Paying half price for something without value to you is still paying too much. If this seems unbelievable, consider the Xbox360. Despite some of the models of the Xbox360 being at or below the price point of the Wii it has not made any significant inroads into the Wii’s sales lead.

Those are flawed logics. You're talking as if value was totally separate from price. If that was the case, then Nintendo would have charged $600 for their console, and it would still sell like bazookas.

Choices, and value, aren't as black and white as you portrait here.

I may strongly prefer strawberry ice-cream, but I may very well end up buying vanilla if I think it tastes good too, and the vanilla company is selling it 30% cheaper.

You're confusing concepts.

Values and Value are not the same thing.

Values are what people look for in a product. Values have a value to people but they are not the same thing.

You are absolutely correct to say that value is directly linked to price. But you are incorrect to think that values are. Given any product a consumer is interested in, they will have a set or list of values which are qualitative not quantitative, products of interest that contain those values have a value based on the sum of those values and not the individual values themselves.

 

If that confused you then consider these definitions:

Values - the ideals, customs, institutions, etc., of a society toward which the people of the group have an affective regard. These values may be positive, as cleanliness, freedom, or education, or negative, as cruelty, crime, or blasphemy.

Value - relative worth, merit, or importance;

-also- 

Value - monetary or material worth, as in commerce or trade