Making Sure Your Brands Don't "Boob" With Markets

A business can easily charge more when a person super-sizes their meal. Yet it's not so easy for companies that charge more due to a person's size. And a company can charge higher fees for users needing more bandwidth when hosting multiple Web sites. But it becomes very tricky when a company scales its prices according to personal width.

One certainly pays more for an SUV than a hatchback because the SUV isn’t only richer in features, it’s more robust due to its sheer mass. And we don’t mind paying more for products that are of a genuine (or perceived) higher quality than those of lower stature… just look at the price of any branded product on your local supermarket shelf compared to the generic one it's stacked next to.

In air travel, people now have to pay a premium when toting more of their stuff on the plane, or they get a discount for not using as much cargo space with their luggage. And while that has outraged some, it’s nothing compared to the heat airlines are facing in attempting to charge a higher price of plus-sized passengers that need more than one seat during their flights—even though that airline only has so many seats to sell during any given flight, and cannot otherwise recoup those costs and losses.

And that brings us to the recent debacle on boobs. Or, more specifically, the pricing of some bras supporting them.

British retailer Marks & Spencer, known for its reasonably priced lingerie, began charging more—as much as $3 USD more—for bras sized DD and up. And their brand met with some mighty backlash from their market.Find out the scoop, and all the marketing lessons when facts give way to feelings, over at my most current column at The Daily Fix. Oh don't be a boob... hop on over there right now.