There are lots of different factors that make people prepared to open their wallets to buy luxury items. Part of it is wrapped up with notions of style and status and aspiration, for sure. People want to be associated with luxury brands. For many luxury shoppers, there’s an element of paying a premium for what that brand says about them.
But there are more pragmatic reasons, too. Luxury brands don’t achieve their status by accident. They do so by offering premium quality products, nearly always backed up by exemplary service. People are prepared to pay more for the trust they can put in the quality and longevity of the product.
At the other end of the scale, consumer markets are these days flooded with cheap, mass-produced goods. Plenty of us love a bargain, sure, and when you see rock-bottom prices, it can be hard to resist. Especially at a time when household budgets have been squeezed so hard.
But there is such a thing as too good to be true, and cheap prices can represent a false economy. Buy a luxury watch, for example, and it might last you a lifetime. Buy a cheap $20 version, it could easily break within two years. Over time, you end up spending more than the luxury version.
The highest possible standards in POS
We’re seeing the same trends unfold in POS hardware. Now, we’re not going to call ourselves a luxury POS brand. Although one of the AURES USPs which customers comment on again and again is the stylish design of our units, and how well they fit with store, restaurant and bar aesthetics.
But for us, quality cuts way deeper than what you can see on the surface. Yes, we make sure our POS hardware looks good. But even more important to us is that our equipment performs to the highest standards possible. And does so over an extended period of time.
You could say this is taking a ‘luxury’ approach to POS hardware build. We certainly choose quality components to reflect our aims, and design and engineering standards are paramount.
But none of this is done with a ‘luxury’ mindset. In fact, even though the units we manufacture end up being sold at a higher price point compared to the cheapest products available on the market, our focus is on delivering the best possible value to our customers.
How does that work? Well, it comes back to the luxury watch versus budget knock-off example. What you pay upfront doesn’t determine the full value you get from any product. You also have to factor in things like longevity and replacement costs. If you’re replacing a cheap POS every few years, the chances are you’re spending more over time than you would on a much more robust and resilient product.
On top of replacement costs, you also have to factor in repairs. The chances are that you will spend money on a glitching POS terminal trying to get it fixed before you eventually make the decision to get a new one. All of these contribute to the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
For us, it makes better sense financially to spend more on better quality POS terminals that will then last much longer and require minimal maintenance than to try to cut corners with cheaper models that carry high repair costs and require regular replacement. As a business, our strategy is to offer POS hardware that lowers TCO for our clients. If that means front loading the costs a little, so be it. The number of clients who stick with us in the long-haul suggests that most see the value in what we offer over time, as well as the quality.