From Tim Baker, Director, Baker Richards Consulting Ltd
The recent Office of Fair Trading (OFT) ruling about the advertising of ticket prices (AP issue 91, 14 February) is absurd and the sector as a whole should be telling them so loudly and with one voice. The misleading application of transaction charges is clearly undesirable. It?s also bad for business, as other sectors have found out before cleaning up their act. But suggesting that the answer is to compel agents ? and by extension everyone who sells tickets ? to publish all of their prices whenever a production is advertised (the implication of their recent advice) is surely taking a sledgehammer to the nut. Differentiating prices is fundamental to a company?s ability to maximise income from, and accessibility to, its products. Consequently, most theatres have a range of prices which vary between performances, plus a range of discounts and concessions, the availability of all of which will change over time. It is not desirable, and in most cases simply not possible, to publish all of this information every time a show is advertised. A cursory glance at the Sunday papers shows that most goods and services are advertised without prices. Even Easyjet, for whom price is their key message, only shows the lowest price, not the range of possible prices for a journey (nor the booking fees or tax you have to pay on top).
Published: 28-02-2005