The Holiday Season: Overpriced or Over Your Budget?

Overpriced or Over Your Budget?

The holidays are upon us once again and is usually filled with families, friends, parties and expenses. During this period there are tonnes of events vying for your attention and your money. With all that you have to spend on at Christmas time, it is probably hard to decide which events to give your hard-earned cash to.

The Holiday Season Overpriced or Over Your Budget?

According to Salary Explorer, Jamaicans typically earn between $19,222 and $628,845 per month. Patrons who may scoff at pricier events and what they offer, may, at times result in conversations around who is the target market. These conversations however, may be a dismissive stance against those who are considered to not be able to afford it. Interestingly, many will not have great difficulty finding the required funds for a party costing up to ten thousand dollars this holiday season but they may prefer to do something else with their money.

Often, one key element not considered is ‘perceived value’. Carol Kopp from Investopedia defines perceived value as the customers’ evaluation of what is good about a product or service coupled with its ability to meet their needs and expectations, especially when compared to its peers.

This means that this season, patrons will consider whether or not the event is worth their money based on what they want to get from the event. Money is spent willingly on things that are important to people, if they have it of course. For some, that may be on stocks, other on clothes, shoes and parties while for others they pride themselves in paying their bills in advance. People are allowed to call anything overpriced if they believe the dollar amount attached to it is more than what they perceive they will be getting from it.

This now leads to the question for this festive season; is this event overpriced? Or is it over my budget? Answers to these questions are not easy, but are necessary in contemplating how you should spend during this period of high expenses. Target market refers to who the event is aimed at. The target market may just be a particular type of person willing to pay the price for the event or sees value in the event at its price point. If you don’t want to then you’re not the target market, and renders the event overpriced and over your budget. In the same breath if you believe the event is definitely worth your money then it is well within your budget and price point. Both statements could therefore be true.