Pricing

from Stardock Forums
I just placed my pre-order for the GC expansion. I had a look around while in there, and noticed that GalCiv is still priced at $39.95 (five dollars off), but with shipping it would be five dollars more for a CD copy, which -I- must have since there is no affordable high speed internet out here in rural Pennsylvania. Considering that I bought GalCiv two months ago from Amazon.com for $29.95, and paid no shipping, that's a $15 dollar difference. I did not wait specifically for the discount before buying -- I was busy with other pursuits until then, but had always had GalCiv on my buy list -- but the discount was an incentive to act when I did. I got a better value.

I've read Brad, several times, wondering aloud why more people don't order electronically. Well, this would explain it! As much as people might like to support Stardock more directly, few of us are inheritors of old money or otherwise independently wealthy. If the choice is between paying full price plus paying for shipping to Stardock, vs getting free shipping, plus a box and manual, and paying fifteen dollars less, most consumers are going to save their money. They will care more about saving 33% than they will about who's making the lion's share of the profit off the sale. That's basic economics.

For a five dollar difference, that might change, although there would still be plenty of folks to be choosy over even five dollars.

Stardock is in sort of a bind here. If they don't get wider distribution, they don't build up a loyal customer base. If they do have wider distribution, they end up competing with their own distributors, trying to persuade players to buy directly, so they profit more, yet asking the players to PAY MORE total than they would from other sources. I don't see how that can succeed long term.

Amazon, Chips-n-Bits, and retailers like Electronics Boutique, all understand the need to compete with one another. Sales, discounts, rebates... When a game has been on the shelf awhile and the sales start to slip, they will drop their prices to move more units, or in the worst case, to clear their inventory. What should Stardock do? Stay with the original price all the way through? If they drop their prices, won't the larger distributors only devalue the merchandise and cut their prices even more? I don't know that I know the answer.

There's a major problem for me with Drengin.net as well: downloading. Unless you've got HIGH speed internet, the subscription idea is a nonstarter. Downloading anything over about 15MB tops is a total nonissue for users like me. That ain't happening. Unless Drengin.net were to come with an option to mail me CD's for anything over 10MB (any new software, as opposed to patches), I simply can't buy in, regardless of my interest level. And paying an extra $5 for shipping on each CD wouldn't be feasible either. That could more than double the cost of the package -- and again, competing on costs to the consumer is essential for those trying to build a lasting business. Asking customers to pay more is asking a lot, and any setup where they pay a lot more is going to turn off a hefty segment of potential customers. Stardock has to make money, but we all have to watch our spending, as well.

Difficult challenges for them, in my view. I hope they can make it, and I have placed my order for the GC:AP expansion. But I'd bet a lot of customers were hanging around hoping to save money by getting free shipping from Amazon, or to avoid the shipping costs by going to the local store. (That was before they learned the expansion will only be available directly from Stardock.) Never underestimate the power of saving 20%! Heck, some consumers will chince to save 2%. More than 10%, and you're off in "losing the competition" land on pricing. Ask the many retail victims of Wal-Mart about just how price-conscious the average American consumer tends to be. Successful retailers, even those selling their own products, simply must account for this and be able to compete in the free market.

My two bits. :)


- Sirian
374 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

One thing: There WILL be a yearly Drengin.net master CD (eventually DVD) made.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
I wish I'd been patient-- I purchased GalCiv from EB for $64.99 (CAN) at the end of September. Even when the Canadian dollar wasn't as high, I could have saved a lot of cash by even purchasing via Stardock.

I felt rushed after the EB sales rep. told me over the phone that GalCiv had been "discontinued". And not holding a credit card at the time, I didn't want to wait until I could borrow someone else's to get the game. That was the same night that I purchased Disgaea: Hour of Darkness for the PS2. I haven't even touched it. I wasted a lot of cash that day. But then, at least I won't have to buy Disgaea for $80 on Ebay a year from now. ;P

Er, sorry... you were saying...?
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
One thing: There WILL be a yearly Drengin.net master CD (eventually DVD) made.
End of quote


How 'eventually' are we talking? 6 months? A year? More? I'm not looking for any guarantee, but a best guess would be nice.

;)
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
One thing: There WILL be a yearly Drengin.net master CD (eventually DVD) made.
End of quote


OK. But if it were only once a year, and say, three products were added to Drengin.net each year (you hope and intend for it to be more, but just as an example consistent with the current pace), then I might have to wait eight months for the next yearly disk, to get access to software I've paid for the right to use. And if my subscription ended before the next disk was printed, but some software was added after the last disk, I could miss out entirely on some titles.

I don't see how a yearly CD would change the issue for those of us on analog dial-up. Drengin.net is built around the download. That's good for some customers, but a minority of internet users have high speed. That's just the reality. Those who don't live in or near a city are stuck. Even many who live in the cities, caught in the cracks between coverage zones for DSL, etc, are left out.

I would not be content to wait on a yearly disk. That sounds more useful to your download customers who would like a disk for archive/backup purposes. If you can't get disks out with each new major release, I don't see how you can appeal to most low-speed customers. All I can do from here is to buy the products one at a time as they come out, if I am interested.

Congress debated the rural America connectivity issue with the Tauzin-Dingle bill. We had phone companies lobbying like mad on one side of the issue, cable companies on the other. They all wanted the prize, but nobody has actually done anything. The promise of bringing high speed to the entire nation was a sham. I have been listening to promises for a DECADE, and see that the reality is that I'm not an inch closer to affordable high speed. I am far from alone in this. I even get bombarded with ads, junk mail, spam, you name it, advertising high speed service from any number of companies, but every time I look into it, it's the same: "Oh, sorry, we don't serve your area yet." If they don't serve my area, why are they sending me ads? They've got my address, at least, when they send snail mail. You'd think somebody would run a cross-check, but no, the whole industry seems to be in chaos from where I sit. They fall over one another competing for market share, for one another's customers, but don't always take good care of the customers they already have. The promises to extend service to lower density areas has been chiefly smoke and mirrors.

I would get high speed for $40/mo if it was available, but there are plenty of folks who have it available and don't care to get it. There are families who do only casual things on the net and don't see a need for high speed service. There are families on tight budgets who need the difference between $40/mo for high speed vs $10/mo for cheapy dial-up, to buy clothes and food. They might spend $50 to $100 a year on games, but would never consider upgrading to high speed just for Drengin.net.

Electronic-only and download-primary services are legitimate options for only a segment of your potential customer base. If you don't adapt options to serve low-speed internet users, in my view you are significantly curtailing your market reach. Expecting dial-up users to download full software packages over 56k or less is not realistic.


- Sirian
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Pricing really is a problem. I wanted the game but also could not afford the download time on a modem. I searched a bit and found it at gamestop.com for $19.95 ($23 with shipping). Seems like the download purchase should be cheaper than the retail to me....

I will say though, that I downloaded stardock central and ran the updates using that on my 56k modem and found it fast enough. I cannot imagine trying to download the entire game.

I will be buying the expansion but will have to go the cd route for that too as downloads would be too slow.

John
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
I just saw the game at the local Gamestop here in Cedar rapids the price was 9.99 they had it on the discount shelf only saw 1 copy but hey.....

~SDC~
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
$64 CDN is about what it would have cost you if you had ordered from Amazon at $25 US, once you included exchange rate, shipping/handling (only free in the US) and customs/exise, so you needn't feel too badly ripped off. You did get sold a line of hooey about it not being available for much longer though, if there was a reasonable selection of stores in your area to shop at. Personally, I opted to wait a bit & shop around. I bought GalCiv in Nov for $42 CDN from CompuSmart after price-matching with EB (who were out of stock.) If you were willing to wait a bit & do a bit of legwork you might've been able to get a better deal.

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
Sure, maybe $60 at the then exchange rate (possibly a little less, I think). Though that's before you take into consideration the %15 I paid on the $64. LOL

I don't really mind. I wanted the game, I didn't want to hunt for it for two weeks. Unfortunately, I haven't really been able to get into it, so it appears to have been a hasty and excessive purchase. I enjoy the game, but I just don't have the time to devote to it.

Though I still could have saved significant cash by downloading from Stardock.

Anyway.... ;)
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
But if it were only once a year, and say, three products were added to Drengin.net each year (you hope and intend for it to be more, but just as an example consistent with the current pace), then I might have to wait eight months for the next yearly disk, to get access to software I've paid for the right to use
End of quote


There is what Stardock obligates itself to do on paper, and to what lengths they go to behind the scenes to get something done. Stardock has sent disks to people before due to extreme circumstances, like lack of reliable internet and people in foreign countries who needed the CD shipped a particular manner to prevent certain problems. While I cannot say this means a free CD on demand for every user with a problem, I can say I have heard about enough exceptions to suggest it is wise to write them with your problem and see what they offer.
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
I just got the game today, from EB Games, I am also a Canadian and bought it for around 40 CAN, taxes included. I believe the price was 34.99 + 15% tax. Unfortunately it was their last copy:/, I wish other stores wuodl carry these kinds of games, I can't find The Corporate Machine anywhere now, I would like to buy it, it's probably not that expensive anymore.

The only reason though, that I bought the real one was becuase I tried the GalCiv Version 1.0 Full and liked it enough to get the real thing. :D
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
I myself won't be getting the expansion however, since I am not allowed to buy things off the internet anyway. I must go the retail route. I wish I could though get it. :( If I was allowed to buy the thing off the internet, the downloading off Stardock might be ok, but I still like going the retail route becuz they offer a nice box, with the CD and instruction manual hard copy. You don't get those things by downloading off the dregin.net place. ;)