If you’ve tried shopping for a new TV recently, you may have noticed that the price of each TV model is often the same regardless of whether it’s sold in person at a store or online. That is not a coincidence.
It is called the Unilateral Pricing Policy (UPP), or “Unilateral Pricing Policy”. And that’s how manufacturers force retailers to stick to specific prices when selling products.
That means there won’t be a lot of frantic sales, no price swings at random stores on emerging TV models, or in other words very little price competition. Of course, there are many exceptions and not all stores are UPP compliant, but most major retailers do.
Why TVs cost the same everywhere
The UPP is nothing new. Phone maker Apple and speaker maker Bose have been doing it for years, and more recently Samsung, LG, Sony and other TV makers. This means that if you’re buying a new TV, say in the US, for example, Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart or your local electronics chain will probably sell it for the same price.
In Vietnam, try to compare the price of the Samsung UHD 4K 55 inch TV model UA55TU6900KXXV at the time of writing at some major electronics stores such as MediaMart, Nguyen Kim or Dien May Xanh, they are all around the price of 17.9 million copper. So save your gas, and also the click time to compare different prices between stores.
Of course, you can still get a “bargain” with some TV models in smaller stores, or take advantage of the promotions and discount codes collected on the platforms. e-commerce at certain times.
Going back to the UPP… is this legal or not?
The answer is that while fixing prices is completely illegal, a company can choose to do (or not) do business with anyone it chooses. So when a company says, “UPP on this model is $1,000,” they’re really saying, “If you sell for less than $1,000 for this TV, we may stop shipping the TV to you.” friend”.
The beauty of this is that manufacturers are not allowed to impose a specific price, which only implies a threat if the pricing is not adhered to. And one obvious potential threat remains price fixing.
TV manufacturers claim the UPP protects their dealers. That’s right. Because UPP allows stores to calculate a price that helps them make a profit. That profit will then be used to support venue and staff costs, plus reduce the number of cases where customers only come to see the display in the store and then buy online.
Key point
The good news is that there are a lot of great quality, inexpensive TVs out there. The price-to-picture quality ratio of a TV has never been as good as it is now. However, the big TV deals during the holiday shopping season are usually limited to one-off TVs that are exclusive to a certain store.
And UPP doesn’t mean TVs never go on sale. It’s just that if there’s a sale at one store, it’s likely to do the same at other stores.
Refer Gizmodo
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