Product Differentiation

Historically, I have not kept a clean car. I mean it was bad… a former boss said he would have to burn the suit he was wearing after only a short ride… 

Fast forward a few years, add a dash of maturity, and a new ride, and I have kept to a schedule of getting my car cleaned about once a month. 

The first few times, I opted for the “mini detail”. Nice enough, cheaper than the full detail and short enough to complete on my lunch break. 

After “the new” wore off of my ride and the accountant in me kicked in, I realized it was ridiculous to pay $55 for a car wash on a regular basis. 

So I explored cheaper options at the same establishment… to my surprise, the cheaper option had minimal differences in the cleanliness of my car and a large impact on my pocket book. 

In my eyes, the mini detail did not have enough differentiators in its offering to justify cost. 

In restaurants, there is a theory that the highest priced wine is only on the menu to drive you to the second highest. But if you realize you can't tell the difference between that and the next lower option why not keep falling down the list? 

The question is: Do your products/ services do enough to justify the price differences? Between your own offerings? Your competitors?