As service industry grows in India, companies are innovating newer products/services and coming out with differentiated offerings to the market. Innovation is not only expected to trigger demand for newer products/services (topline) but also help sustain the margins (bottomline) in recession squeezed markets...marketeers seem to have (re) discovered the mantra to help boost the sagging sales/morales of their sales teams...so the key is to come up with 'non-commoditised' product or service offering to the market...
However the important dimension to this emerging story, from the consumer point of view is- how do i -a consumer- assess the 'fair price' or 'right value for money' for the non-commoditised product/services, before i make a decision in favour of or against buying that product/service
This question becomes extremely important especially for markets like India (and majority others for that matter) where the print and organised electronic media, supposedly an educater/emancipator of the masses, is bought over by the manufacturers of these goods and services (sponsored and paid news is (not so) unique feature of Indian democracy!!)...Consumer movements in India too have become dysfunctional and Govt is perpetually faced with a dilemma of whether or not to regulate the 'market forces'(!) and thus ensure fair price for the end consumer...
To me the answer lies in a simple change (first proposed in ninetees by an eminent Indian economist late Prof M.G. Bokare), which could be brought about by an act of parliament whereby a manufacturer will be mandatorily required to publish per unit cost of production along with MRP on every article they sell in the market. So one would have MCP (Max Cost of Production) and MRP (Max Retail Price) clearly dispalyed on e.g. bottle of mineral water or hotel bill..(fortunately, Cost Accounting practices have evolved enough in last decade to make this per unit cost calculation quite possible now)
What are the benefits:- there are many but the most important one, from a consumer perspective-with increasing number of non-commoditised (read innovative) products/services flooding the markets, consumer will precisely know the per unit cost of prodution (MCP) and the premium they are being asked to pay (MRP) over and above the cost price..Consumer will pay the premium if they really think its worth the benefits....going forward, this will definately ensure a fair pricing by the manufacturers of the goods/services or else consumer will make an 'informed decision' of not buying the product/service...real power to the consumer!!
