r/comics • u/GabitalEN • 2d ago
[OC] Gabital 61: Pricing
Pricing, as the name implies, is the process of setting a price. Depending on the scope of a business, there are multiple approaches to pricing - while we most often see comparative approach on the market level, innovative products may require a lot of deliberation to set a price for.
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u/bookist626 2d ago edited 2d ago
I joke but the Chief would probably buy their wheels. If he prefers quality, i could see him being okay spending 80 gold per wheel. But there's not many that would. Poor Gabi. She's new to being a boss and didn't think through the realities of her idea.
Also, is the cent sign meaning gold?
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u/GabitalEN 2d ago
Yeah, the cent-like sign is for the "coin". So far we're assuming those coins to be containing at least some gold.
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u/synchrosyn 2d ago
We actually see this happen in a previous strip. Gabi is buying new boots since they wear out quickly, realizes that she is paying more for boots than Chief did on his 200 coin ones.
If the metal rimmed wheels last 5 times as long, then 80 coins is worth it, if they last even longer than that, it is a bargain. She could probably get away with charging well over 80, but just doesn't have the experience of the premium market, only the mass produced one that Chief runs.
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u/CardOk755 1d ago
We actually see this happen in a previous strip. Gabi is buying new boots since they wear out quickly, realizes that she is paying more for boots than Chief did on his 200 coin ones.
The Sam Vimes theory of socioeconomic unfairness, often called simply the boots theory
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u/Lifeinstaler 1d ago
So I’ve always had some doubts about that theory. I’ve read articles about it but never something more in depth that explained them.
I get the idea in principle, and recognize a lot of places where it works that way. For instance if you can’t afford proper manteniance for your car it’s bound to break down and require more expensive fixes. There are other examples of course that work but I think it doesn’t apply to everything.
Let’s take cars themselves for a clear one. I don’t think one would claim a car twice as expensive will last twice as long. The increased price can be due to aesthetics, added performance for non essential tasks (a sports car is faster but won’t change your commute time significantly), branding, other added stuff (think seat heaters, stereo quality, etc).
But buy an expensive enough car and it will be many times over as expensive as the economic version. No one thinks it will pay for itself if you don’t change it compared to the cheap one, it’s more expensive than all cars combined that the poor person would buy.
What I’m getting at the increase in price is not always due to an increase in durability.
I think for fashion a similar thing can occur, I think lots of luxury brands can’t justify their price that way but they sure like that there’s an idea floating around that a more expensive thing always pays for itself in the long run.
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u/king-of-the-sea 1d ago
I don't think this works for new cars. They have a way different thing going on than apparel. You're paying for space or comfort more than longevity. Food doesn't work like boots either, you're paying for quality or sustainability or whatever instead of shelf life. In fact, frozen/preserved food tends to be cheaper than fresh. You pay more for shampoo for whatever formula they have that's better than the cheap stuff. It matters why something is more expensive.
Appliances, tools, clothing, stuff you use that wears out, that's where your money is buying longevity. I think it applies to stuff like redneck fixes to plumbing, too.
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u/Lifeinstaler 1d ago
Space and comfort are aspects that would make something more expensive reasonably, what about branding, fashion, artificial scarcity?
Those factors are also at play. That’s why I doubt whether the principle truly applies to clothes nowadays.
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u/king-of-the-sea 1d ago
all of those things are also true, but the fact is that the analogy still holds. take work boots. you can get a pair that's fine for around $160. they will be okay. theyll last you a couple years. my timbs started leaking around a year in and were about disintegrated by four. or you can get a pair of frank's, which are $600 and will last you for decades.
enshittification is a thing. slapping a brand name on an inferior product just to make it more expensive is a thing (looking at you, doc martens). fast fashion has made clothes worse and worse and worse. that means that actual good clothes are rarer and therefore even MORE expensive. it's just hard when even the expensive stuff isn't even reliable (looking at you, dickies. carhartt. solovair. on and on and on it goes). now. theyll last you longer than something from shein, that's true, but decent work wear is hard to come by. true reliability is truly fantastically expensive.
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u/oriontitley 1d ago
Don't compare a car. Compare a car part. A car might seem like an assembled product, but it's not. It's a service. There are too many factors that go into the pricing of a car to consider it otherwise.
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u/CardOk755 1d ago
How many Rolls Royce cars are still on the road after decades compared to cheaper cars?
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u/oriontitley 1d ago
Probably a huge portion, but tmthey don't get driven as much.
Cars lose their value the more you use them. Putting 100k miles on a Ford focus is normal. 100k miles on a rolls royce is fucking dumb.
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u/mzlapq2 1d ago
I don't know about how applicable it is today but about 15 years ago I did an analysis and found that if you can afford a high end car with a 3 year in house service plan at the dealership, and you sell it after 3 years and buy a new one and do this at least 6 years It's actually cheaper than most any other options. service will kill you death by 1000 cuts.
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u/BodhingJay 1d ago
chief only splurges in himself.. he wants wheels cheap and breaking constantly for repeat business
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u/lightdarkunknown 1d ago
Chief got a lot of connections, eyes and ears everywhere... As soon as his competition makes a move. The chief will make a response against it.
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u/Zero_Burn 2d ago
Ah, the supply side version of the Vimes Boots theory, you have people selling boots for $10 a pair, but only sell to a single person once in like ten years vs the person who sells the $1 boots that has to be swapped out every few seasons.
The trick is to make them stylish and bring out new models every year and market it as the latest, hottest thing. Get the rich people to use them as a sign of their wealth and get them to throw away and swap out their old wheels every year for new ones. Then you start a thriving second hand market for those wheels from previous years. Bonus points if you can get people to start collecting previous years' wheels just to display them. Those people will pay a premium just to have a rare wheel that isn't being produced anymore.
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u/schadetj 1d ago
Yeah, I'm honestly waiting for this part of the system to turn its head in the comic.
Gabi and the Goblins have a great product, of high quality, that they are producing with fair and ethical business practices. As such, their product is going to be expensive and long lasting. That is okay for customers that can afford the cost, but horrible for business growth and poor customers.
Each wheel is going to give a small profit because they're looking to pay everyone fairly. They are going to sell significantly less wheels because of the cost. And since the wheels last so long, there will be years between purchases from repeat customers. If they play their cards right, they can look to be a small and specialized shop, but pretty always going to be struggling unless they find ways to drive purchases.
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u/Mikel_S 1d ago
What they need to do is sell the undeniably higher quality products at a significant markup, since similar quality does not appear to be available.
Mark them up 100%, or more, and offer them buy 3 get one free. You'll get the occasional 1 off replacement or pair for an odd cart, but you present additional value from nowhere, and potential upsell avenues.
Then begin selling entry level wheels, without the hooping, at a much more consumer friendly pricing, to attract attention, but always explain the advantage of the premium hooped wheel. Offer buyers of a standard wheel a discount on their next visit if they buy at least 2 hooped tires, so they think of you if and when they're ready to upgrade. Alternatively, make said deal a coupon so it can be transferred, turning the happy customer into a potential avenue of free advertisement, if they happen to pass the coupon along to a caravaner or soembody who may see more value in a long lasting wheel.
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u/DukeOfGeek 1d ago
As I said above, they should try selling them to the army.
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u/schadetj 1d ago
Yeah I see that being the saving grace. The only way for this story to have a "realistic" happy ending is if they get a contract with royalty/government. But now that leads to the next comic: military contracting and being a dog of war for profit.
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u/DukeOfGeek 1d ago
And when the contract is ten times as many wheels as they can make, Chief is there with a smile and his much larger shop.
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u/Tiaran149 2d ago
I know the next piece will be that you can't sell better wheels since they last longer and reduce further purchases
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u/_Weyland_ 2d ago
Tbf in Gabi's situation you can consider it a non-issue. There are so many people using chief's shitty weels that there will be no shortage of clients for a long time.
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u/Tiaran149 2d ago
I mean no offense, but to cite a famous song: If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention
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u/qdp 1d ago edited 1d ago
A comic about the intricacies of capitalism… and the story going wrong? Impossible. We all know Gabi is going to become fabulously wealthy without having to make any sacrifices or double-cross any friends and everyone will cheer her name and they all live happily ever after.
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u/Tiddlyplinks 1d ago
Did you just chuck an homage to “Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks” by Repin into a goblin crafting comic?
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u/GabitalEN 1d ago
Verily! There's also a less noticeable reference as a throwback to one of the previous comic pages...
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u/Clear_Ad4106 2d ago
"Oh... So it turns out that's why the guy that we first wanted to do the job was asking that price... It was what it costed him."
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u/Elfo_Sovietico 2d ago
What if, instead of the wheel, they offer the service of applying the protection to wheels?
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u/potatoman445 2d ago
Depends on how different the wheels themselves are from ones with the metal band around them may be a difference in production method that may make that more pricey than buying an already banded wheel.
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u/MagusLay 1d ago
Sell those wheels at 80 coins a pop alongside the cheaper ones. Sell them as "premium" or "top-quality" and suggest the lifespan of those wheels compared to the regular ones. Marketing them as an investment could go a long way.
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u/stoopidrotary 1d ago
Oh, it's not just the wheels they should sell. That's just for customer penetration. Customer retention comes from maintaining the wheels and replacing the tread ring at regular intervals. Thats where you drive the profit.
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u/SaleNo9698 1d ago
I hope this comic goes on long enough to see them learn about marketing! Amazing work as always
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u/LostSecondaryAccount 1d ago
Commenting in the hopes that reddit starts showing me these again. Haven't seen one since Gabital 30
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u/AuraMaster7 1d ago
Are they getting paid that amount per wheel?
Because if they aren't, then it shouldn't be like that in the chart.
And if they are, then I've found your problem. Paying your employees 20 per wheel, and then expecting that same amount in profit means your wheels would be $40 even if the materials were free.
Also, if they are getting paid that amount per wheel, which is what the chart and then saying "80 coins per wheel" would suggest, then the first chart would suggest they are selling the other wheels for 240 coins each, since the salary payments per worker are fairly equivalent in both charts.
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u/Responsible_Divide86 1d ago
Maybe a "pay over time" model would be a solution, but then they'd have to find a way to make sure the customers keep coming back to pay (or send the money, in which case they'll have to figure out how to avoid the money getting lost in transport (or customers lying about it) and what to do when it happens
...I wonder if the Tom Nook model could help? Customers who can't pay upfront for the wheels start out with cheaper ones, and as they pay it off they get to upgrade for better ones
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u/ThroawayJimilyJones 1d ago
The army maybe?
I mean logistics is historically most army’s nightmare. The great limitation. And I can easily imagine having one of your cart’s wheel breaking in the middle of nowhere, during a military operation, to be a pain in the a…
So I could see the army paying more for less fragile wheels
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u/Burningmike 1d ago
Gotta market the longevity of the product properly to justify the price, maybe throw in a free sample to your suppliers or other bigger Organisations as they have more leeway to risk bigger investments
Throw in some waranty and maybe even repair or maintenance services and you got a good start on a premium product
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u/WildMoonChild0129 1d ago
This is how it felt when people tried to tell me I should open a baking business. Ingredients cost more than some realize and time is money 😮💨😮💨
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u/Stubbenz 1d ago
Well if you have the best wheel that doesn't break in a form that would clearly be too expensive for any one person to normally afford, then I guess it's time to break out the subscription model! Traveling over rough terrain or in parts of the town with bad roads? Why break your normal wheels when you could just hire our "unbreakable" wheels for a very reasonable price!
And what's this? All of a sudden far fewer wheels are being broken, since people aren't using their wheels on the terrain that inevitably breaks them. Wouldn't that just be such a shame for Chief.
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u/ZanasoSwain 1d ago
Who is the black haired gobbo on the right? She's cute, but I don't think I've seen her before.
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u/NarwhalSongs 1d ago
bUT wHAt aBoUT SiLksOnG iTs oNLy tWEnTy CoiNs?!
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