Article Comment: The Urge To Unbundle

02 March 2005

Fast Company: The Urge To Unbundle - Customers with specific needs are resisting bundled offerings and demanding that components are sold 'a la carte'. This disaggregation is being facilitated by comparison pricing using the internet.

Bundled pricing is often used by billers to offer customised prices and product mixes to different customer segments. Billers maximise their returns through market segmentation, allowing the customer to self-select the appropriate product bundle (mix) at the customer's 'right' price point.

Bundles with lower prices than the sum of their 'a la carte' components can be used to 'bind' customers to a biller. This is done by making the customer's 'total' purchase cost more expensive when a bundle's components are bought from separate providers.

Tags: Billing, Pricing