We’ve all thought of it, but are yet to express it. With new businesses opening up and spreading in areas of Zamalek, Maadi, 6th of October, and Heliopolis, are we being ridiculously ripped off? This isn’t about what we as upper class residents can or cannot afford to pay. This is about us being the educated ones, the aware consumers, the ones who enjoy enough rationality to know how much a cupcake, a hotdog sandwich, or a scoop of ice-cream costs. I won’t get into all the new Egyptian designers selling their copycat jewelry (accessories) for double and triple what their items are really worth. I won’t start on online businesses selling clothing items of brands that we are all very familiar with, yet charge us shipment costs x 20!
Clothing and jewelry, real designers or not, can still somehow pass for luxury goods. But treats? In what sense is it alright to pay for a 30 EGP movie ticket but a subsidiary 40 something ice-cream cone? What forces drive us to make the conscious decision of buying a dozen of cupcakes for 150 EGP when we can get a regular (whole) cake for much less? How is it that a cold cut sandwich cost 30+ EGP when you can get the same sandwich for 40% less from any fast-food chain? In what country or logic should a cup of coffee cost almost as much as a hot meal?
My question is why is it ok?
These aren’t example of goods that we HAVE to have or anything. We (I’m guilty as charged) choose to follow the trends and pay large amounts of cash for overpriced items on almost daily basis.
How pressuring is peer pressure? Or how irresponsible have we become with resources? We try their products and we fall in love with it. We foster the brand so much that we consciously allow rip-offs. We consider their super-fast expansion as successes without raising a question of how?
It seems like they’re all following the same pricing pattern. Even the ones who started up in the relatively “reasonable” range, most of them are increasing their prices by significant percentages to compete. Competing used to be about offering similar products for the lowest price possible with proper consideration to quality, but the rules have changed. Entrepreneurs have been pressing on the “cool, in, moda” aspects to promote their products and create demand rather than price wars. I’m not blaming owners, they witness an opportunity to increase profits and they grab it, yet I’m trying to find an explanation to recent consumer behaviors in the Egyptian high-end market.
WE SAID THIS: WHEN IS IT TOO MUCH?