Increase sales at an electronics store, your manager is advertising a popular music player at an unusually low price. When customers arrive at the store requesting the music player, the manager wants you and other sales people to steer customers to a more expensive alternative. Should you go along? Built-in obsolescence means designing products that will degrade over time or otherwise need to be replaced. Many products depend on built-in obsolescence to ensure sales, such as light bulbs, batteries, and electronic devices. Do you think selling products with built-in obsolescence is an ethical way to do business?

Discussions

In the scenario of selling a music player, it is inappropriate for the salespeople to engage in any form of price dishonesty as this will, in turn, negatively affect the business; hence, leading to loss of potential customers (Bruno, Che & Dutta, 2012). Rising and lowering prices of a specific good entails well-organized attention of timing and it should engage in knowing how to affect the consumer’s point of view of the mentioned value in what one is selling. When the business announces a different price from what was said earlier on, this will, in turn, affect other essential marketing processes. Therefore, it is appropriate to stick to the suggested price regarding the music player rather than misleading consumers due to the adverse effects it will pose on the business.

As observed by Goetz, E. G. (2012), planned obsolescence is the act of producing customer products that typically needs frequent replacement. In a personal opinion, selling products with built-in obsolescence is not an ethical way of carrying out business operations as a manufacturer might decide to use materials that will not last, or might stop supplying spare parts required for goods repair. There may be no substantial reasons for making such decisions. Also, the manufacturer might present a customer right that is outweighed by a newer product hence making the client find the older product displeasing. These are some of the reasons why selling goods with built-in obsolescence is considered a repulsive idea, hatched in greed and leading into a waste of valuable resources.

References

Bruno, H. A., Che, H., & Dutta, S. (2012). Role of reference price on price and quantity: insights from business-to-business markets. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(5), 640-654.

Goetz, E. G. (2012). Obsolescence and the Transformation of Public Housing Communities in the US. International Journal of Housing Policy, 12(3), 331-345.