Breaking the Price-Product Link

<p dir="ltr">There was a time when coffee was coffee. Ice cream was ice cream. A phone was a phone. Even a pair of jeans was, just a pair of jeans.</p> <p dir="ltr">There are still businesses stuck in this time warp, continuing to conduct business as if people still purchased products.</p> <p dir="ltr">Today, that cup of coffee comes with more options than a Porsche. A double shot, soy milk, almond milk, extra hot, topped up, half strength, in a takeaway cup because it tastes better. Thus, the $5.50 price for the 50 cents cup of coffee.</p> <p dir="ltr">But even that is only half the story.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Breaking the price - product link</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">The profit margin of the double shot of extra something far exceeds the profit margin of the cup of coffee itself. <a href= "https://www.prada.com/au/en/women/bags/totes/products.Shearling_tote.1BG374_2EC9_F0964_V_MIO.html">The Prada Shearling Tote</a> selling for $4,450 does not cost 200 times more to make than the tote at kmart for $20. This is a path to profit and to greater acceptance by affluent consumers. But as I said, it is only half the story.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Ordinary products morphing into their own category</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Like them or not, Starbucks altered the coffee drinking world.</p> <p dir="ltr">It redefined itself from a coffee shop to the "third-place" - home, office, Starbucks in between. It positioned itself as a merchant of feelings, of status, and most of all, of experience. A new category. And many other businesses have followed. <a href="https://www.deandeluca.com/">Dean & Deluca</a> (groceries), <a href= "https://www.underarmour.com/en-us/">Under Armour</a> (undies), <a href= "https://www.varsity.com.au/">Varsity Burgers</a> and my favourite Burning Man (a camping trip in the desert with a bit of music ), have jazzed up their offerings to be in a new stratosphere with luxury pricing to match.</p> <p dir="ltr">Price is no longer tied to product.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Far more appealing to "people