You're missing out on huge savings by falling for this marketing trap

Many sellers of dog training products try to legitimise their position in the marketplace by stamping their brand on manufactured goods made by someone else. That's fair enough and is essentially what retail businesses are all about. We at Bark Doctor do it too- when we believe in a product so much, we give it a name that people can easily understand is of benefit and make a decision to buy or not to buy. Our Mighty Mini Bark Collar is a good example of this.

What we don't like, and are increasingly seeing more of, are sellers trying to claim a position in the design and manufacturing space when they absolutely never had any part in that process to begin with. The value most sellers offer to clients is the confidence that these products are tried and tested and do what they claim to do. Some of us have engineering backgrounds and are therefore more qualified to be involved in the design stage of product development, and their products are usually sold at the absolute premium price. But most of us are in this because we can relate much more to the user side of the equation, and our feedback can inform the development of new viable products to offer to dog owners.

Marketing Trap: Sellers are hijacking model numbers to make the product seem exclusively their own

There are increasingly more sellers that try to muddle the marketplace to the detriment of the user. They deceive people into thinking the product is unique or exclusive to their brand when they aren't. This confusion limits dog owners comparing the same product between sellers in order to choose the best price, leading to potentially hundreds in cost savings lost. Deceiving customers into thinking the product is exclusively theirs (as if they were the engineers mentioned earlier) allows them to charge premium prices and make massive profits relative to other sellers of the same product. 

The following image is an example of a seller here in Australia hijacking model numbers to give the impression the products are exclusively their own:

We will refrain from naming this business out of courtesy. But we will call them Business A for ease of writing this article. We will say though that these model numbers can be found on their website. This is a list of replacement collars on Business A's spare parts page. Several of the models included here are actually found in Bark Doctor's range of products. But you wouldn't be able to compare our prices to Business A's prices by using model number alone. It requires some sleuthing, which not many people have time to do so they fall into the trap.

In the image above, Business A's model G1-PT-T720-R is the exact same product as model T720 remote training collar that Bark Doctor sells. T720 is the manufacturer's model number and we sell it as such. Business A, however, felt the need to add G1-PT-manufacturer’s number-R. This absolutely has no other purpose than to make you think they alone sell this product or have somehow influenced the design and engineering of the product, which are skills and expertise they don't have. That's why these numbers almost always have the business' brand initials incorporated somehow. They do this to be able to charge a premium and make more profit, whilst arguably offering little else in terms of speed of delivery and service. Full price for Business A’s single dog system is $165, $56 dollars dearer than Bark Doctor's full price. 

To try to give benefit of the doubt, perhaps these model numbers are part of the business' own coding and inventory and chose to use that. However, looking at how the products are sold in other parts of Business A's website, this business is in the habit of changing the model number to reflect their brand initials or omitting the correct model number entirely from the product page. So in light of an accumulation of evidence, including price gouging, they're in the habit of assuming false expertise, leading to higher prices for the customer. 

Don't fall for it.