For years now there have been heated international discussions in our sector about prices. Terms such as discounts, promotions and special offers are nowadays to be heard in each and every country - and once in a while this even leads to litigation. You can look at the situation in a different way: the person who takes another to court is proud of his line of action. But can you be proud of falling prices? First and foremost, margins are becoming increasingly tight. Suppliers already have to calculate their prices extremely keenly because the market, i.e. the DIY retail sector, demands it of them. That means if you are not competitive you must simply get out.
Sales promotions are the order of the day on the retail side. In my opinion it is totally illogical to use prices as the selling point in the DIY sector. Only professional users know their way round this market to some extent, otherwise almost no consumer knows the average price of any DIY item. There are reasons enough for this situation: buying a hammer or a drill is simply not a weekly event. What is more, the euro has wiped out the modest amount of knowledge about prices that did exist. The price sticks in people's heads for a short time only when they are actually interested in a new product. Special offers only boost the idea of cut-price purchases and tempt people into the shop. It would be considerably better to achieve this through other arguments. That would be beneficial to the health of the sector in countries where sales are currently ailing.

Bert Hogeland