Are consumers "potential suckers to be exploited"?

The no-frills, low-margin online business model is pushing businesses into finding new ways of making money. But should all consumers be considered as “potential suckers to be exploited”?

A middle ground should be the place in a combination of service, quality and price.
The web allows reduced overheads and we can pass this along to our buyers and staff.

As the internet makes price comparisons even easier – and drives down prices – businesses that refuse to change will be in trouble. Any consumer sector that charges more than it needs to for basic services faces the threat of a cheaper entrant stealing a major market share.

Now a new scam is showing up with a simple 'bait & switch' tactic which means every customer is seen as someone who can and should be pushed into paying for additional things above the basic offer.


Being treated like a stranger in town so being taken around the houses in a taxi and the fare ramping up does not make us feel that good service is taking place! Would you tip the driver? NO! Will you refer others? NO! Will you get back in the same cab? NO! So why should we allow this in sales and that is online or off line.

It might be fine when we are talking about add-on luxuries that people choose to buy, but the problem comes when the goal is to exploit customers’ vulnerability to make a fast buck.”

Using the example of overpriced extended warranties on electrical goods I don’t suppose anyone wants to abandon the benefits of competitive markets, but something is lost in society when those who work in the service sector are encouraged to see customers not as people to please and help, but as punters to be exploited.

Easy Jet has helped transform the consumer market place for air travel. Its approach has brought flying within reach of millions more people and it has forced other airlines to be more competitive. As the internet makes price comparisons ever easier, any consumer sector that is charging more than it needs to for its basic services faces the threat of a cheaper entrant stealing a major market share. This is the good news. The bad is this: no frills, low margin models encourage businesses to explore other ways of making money from their customers. This is where all the hidden extras come in.

I hear every day similar experiences of trapped customers being fleeced when they need some assistance or make a mistake like going slightly overdrawn for a few days or the hard sell pressure put on people buying electrical goods with overpriced extended warranties.

In the end this is simply shifting profit from one activity – the basic service – to another – the add-ons and hidden charges.

Be a canny consumer avoid most of these ways that make you pay above the minimum.
If it is an add-say NO!!