Slashing prices harms the whole industry
By Richard Diliberto, sales director, Comp Door.
The subject of my following comment concerns an increasing trend among manufacturers who are choosing to slash their prices to incredibly low rates in order to appeal to customers and remain ahead of their competitors in the industry.
This is of great concern to reputable manufacturers such as us who see this approach being adopted as with it, industry standards and product quality are also dropping; competitors are disproportionately losing out; and fitters and traders are ultimately paying the highest price.
We at Comp Door believe in keeping standards high and prices fair, and our mission statement from our inception has been to reform the reputation of composite doors in the fenestration industry.
We achieve this by using durable materials, implementing innovative manufacturing processes, and employing attentive customer care staff. While none of this is cheap, our prices are always fair, prioritising quality before profits.
When manufacturers drop their prices to such low levels, they undercut their competitors and monopolise the sector, increasing their own margins and drastically reducing the capacity for producing long-lasting products of value.
Although initially drawn to such competitive prices, customers and installers ultimately pay dearly in the long run for such sub-par products, forking out for refits, repairs and replacements. The subsequent damage done to their reputations is also incredibly costly.
The future of this industry relies on innovation and healthy competition to ensure constant improvement.
The huge reduction in prices we are witnessing by some suppliers is hurting consumers in the long run and in doing so, is inhibiting the industry’s capacity to evolve.