Augustin made a number of assumptions regarding what would be appealing to Emila’s current and potential clients. He thought that customers wouldn’t mind the price rise, that young people would favor in-person buying over internet shopping, and that they would tell their social media followers how much they loved Emilia. One thought that stood out to me was that he did not believe in making discounted prices the norm and think people should become “educated” to accept non-marked-down prices. However, many people have purchased something “not because it’s needed but because it is an exceptional price,” as Shari Rudolph notes in the “Experts Respond” section. The biggest problem Augustin has is not thinking from the customer’s point of view. He used strategies that came across as patronizing, further demonstrating that he had committed to a vision that was entirely his own and had nothing to do with the customers of Emilia.
I would start by attempting to alter Augustin’s perspective as his consultant. His plan comes across as harsh and aggressive despite his good nature. I’d like him to comprehend the characteristics of his target market and how they see his present pricing strategy versus his suggested strategy. It is good to test out his theory temporarily than to implement it right away. Seeing the result of this kind of A/B testing would be the most convincing evidence for Augustin and his company on what the customers want. In addition, I strongly believe just because a brand isn’t necessarily “luxurious” it doesn’t mean it lacks value. Furthermore, I support the suggestions made by Augustin’s coworkers including the promotion of cultural changes such as making Emilia a social hub for young people. I also suggest him to do data analysis to create more personalized discounts for customers. I believe a combination of these efforts would allow Emilia to grow. Overall, extensive prototyping and testing of key assumptions early on would have helped Augustin and the Emilia executives to determine if they were heading in the correct direction.
