Price on request? Well, why don't you request it?
Raju Narisetti -
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 2:20 PM
Coming out of one Indian holiday season and headed into Christmas and New Year, Indian magazines and newspapers are full (well, not too full in these tough economic times) of editorial features clearly aimed at getting readers to buy stuff. But what really gets my goat is how many of these features have everything about a product--including very attractive product shots--except, that is, the price.
Ads like these from Hi! Blitz, the airline magazine of Kingfisher Airlines (I flew them four times in two days this weekend so there you go, but I could have picked up similar examples from most metro newspapers and magazines as well):
So apparently a Rs25,200 pair of Hugo Black shoes are ok to price but the other two shoes (and all the watches) require a reader to request the price. The same issue of Hi! Blitz had this ad for three Click and Clasp bags, with a Judith Leiber's price (Rs145,000) as well as a Christian Dior (Rs144,000) mentioned, but not the Valentino (which is again price on request):
What annoys me is that most of these news features are clearly aimed at selling these products with most of photos being supplied by the retailers or the brand marketers. Yet most newspapers are willing to eagerly acquiesce to storekeepers and PR firms that try to make it seem like if a price is mentioned, somehow it will lower the exclusivity or devalue a product. And, on top of it, many newspapers don't usually give a website or a store phone number to quickly get the price, assuming a reader is interested in finding out, without having to visit the store.
When Mint's Saturday magazine Lounge did its Luxury Special, this is what Lounge Editor Priya Ramani had to say about what Mint thinks of Price on Request requests:
"How many times have you seen this phrase in Indian fashion and lifestyle magazines?
When we launched Lounge, we were clear that these three words would find no place in your favourite Saturday magazine. We saw no reason for you to request anyone for anything when we could provide you with that information. Readers have a right to know how much the products we feature cost, right?"
The column goes on to note how time consuming such a seemingly small task of giving all the prices of all the products Lounge features can be for reporters and editors. This Romantic Realist, for one, believes newspapers are here to serve readers, not to make them go through extra hoops to get basic information. So, it is a matter of pride at Mint that Lounge doesn't take its readers down the Price on Request route. (
Read that column here.)
Wouldn't it be nice if editors and journalists acted in the interests of readers and not retailers, PR agencies or brand marketers when it comes to such relatively simple matters? After all, if the ultimate goal for retailers and marketers is to sell that stuff, by writing about it (rather than asking the brands to run just ads), newspapers are the ones doing the brands a--free--favor.
Seems to me that this habit is a lazy and quick way to start losing readers to more one-stop information providers, especially on the web. I mean, if a price really needs to be requested, then how about the reporter or editor "requesting" it on behalf of the reader and providing that information?