Constructive Business Analysis on ZOS Pricing Strategies

SeleneXIII · September 2018

With the record pricing of Welkynar motif at 6000 crowns,

1. I do understand you are a business and are pushed to generate revenue hence try aggressive methods to make us spend money but you are forgoing the sales volume by driving these ridiculous prices whereas if it were, I don't know 3k, maybe there will be more than double the amount of people that will buy this motif and a happier player base...

Why don't you make market research within your play base (with a representative sub and non sub sample population) and ask like would you buy this sample DLC/motif/mount etc at this price range etc and come up with optimal ranges for crown store offerings where both most people would tend to buy and would bring you most profit ((high volume, high sales, high satisfaction)? Or compare sales numbers on offered reduced price periods? Do you guys have anyone doing any sensitivity pricing analysis in ZOS marketing/sales department before you decide on these prices?

2. Compensate not increasing prices by diversifying your revenue stream (i.e. offering more easy reskins, cosmetic items, customizations). Just read the forum posts (i.e. customized companions, pets, bards, hair etc) people are begging for you to offer them the things they want to give you money. But all you do is try to make up your revenue targets by offering niche limited ridiculously overpriced items while angering your motivated customers.

I want both the business and game thrive but also us to be satisfied as well. However, this becomes a matter of not being able to afford things but being abused for our support & love of the game.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Holden Please Please Please make this reach to the management as a constructive suggestion from a sales/bid analyst but also one of many disappointed new & old fans of the game (just check the countless forum & Reddit posts).

ktdotexe · September 2018

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Acrolas · September 2018

"Lower price = higher volume" does not apply to luxury/premium items intended to have a proportionally smaller representation.

Royaji · September 2018

Oh, I bet they do a lot of market research. And I'm pretty sure they do not need to "lower the prices to get double the sales" because they are already selling incredible amount of those "expensive" crown store items. You are underestimating the silent majority of people who like to buy fancy dresses, ponies and houses for their dolls.

Forums and Reddit can scream all they want but for people who are doing market research and stuff only money talk.

DanteYoda · September 2018

Yeah 5k was too much... 6k hah, no cosmetics are worth that.. even crown crates are cheaper than that.. even with the rng.

Zos is pricing its customers out of the market..

I know for a fact the Tsaesci style sold super well at 2k...

Acrolas wrote: »

"Lower price = higher volume" does not apply to luxury/premium items intended to have a proportionally smaller representation.

Not true at all... Games workshop items are booming on Ebay over the retail stores..

weedgenius · September 2018

I agree with you, but I just want to note that when the Celestial motif (another trial motif) was added to the crown store it was priced at 6,000 crowns. I believe that was last year. So, outrageous, but not unprecedented.

Edit to add a link to a thread where people were complaining about the 6k price tag. May 2017

Acrolas · September 2018

DanteYoda wrote: »

Not true at all... Games workshop items are booming on Ebay over the retail stores..

Interesting company to drag into this. You maybe should have read their business model first.

"We make things. We are a manufacturer. Not a retailer."

"Our customers are global. People with our particular Hobby gene, that is collecting, painting and playing with fantasy soldiers, exist all over the world. Our job is to find them."

"We know that, for a niche like ours, people who are interested in collecting fantasy miniatures will choose the best quality and be prepared to pay what they are worth."

"With this growth we should be able to put more volume through our dedicated manufacturing and warehouse facilities ensuring that our gross margin continues to improve."
https://investor.games-workshop.com/our-business-model

They say nothing about discounting the price of their items. Nothing about product diversification. I'd argue that the Games Workshop model is a lot like the one ZOS uses. Namely, that their intellectual property is valuable and they will produce what they are focused on at the price they feel it is worth, not giving in to the whims of random people on the Internet.

MarbleQuiche · September 2018

Unfortunately, that's how business works these days. Using two (extreme) examples:

1) Revenue of $100,000,000 with a 50% profit
2) Revenue of $1,000,000,000 with a 10% profit (twice the profit)

Businesses almost always go for the larger profit percentage. In example two, the larger overheads involved - such as greater resource spend, higher employment costs and staff benefits, and larger output on transient assets - is viewed by many corporate boards as a millstone around ambitions to turn as little money as possible into as much money as possible.

Like any successful business in these digital times, you can bet they're doing market research and statistical analysis on their customers and their purchasing habits. It's simply that the aim of these studies isn't to maximise profit, but profitability. Which sucks, because example two is better for the consumer and better for our economies.

Welcome to the service economy, where stock rises on efficiency not value. Advance to GO; deposit $200.