Forum. The low cost is an old design : born in Germany at the end of the second world war with the chain of Aldi stores, it is developed in the United States in the air transport starting in the 1970s with Southwest Airlines, and in Europe with easyJet and Ryanair in the favor of the deregulation of the european skies, before spread in sectors as varied as automotive (Logan Renault), retail banking, insurance, or sports halls.
So far, the low-cost no end of controversy. We think of the recurrent debates around Ryanair, accused of violating the labor law or of the levying of illegitimate grants airport. Some analysts do not hesitate to predict regularly the upcoming end of the low cost.
Simplification of products or services
Without disregarding some of the drifts, it would be a mistake to equate the low cost with a pure artifice, based on the non-observance of the rules of law or on the progression of myopia of consumers. To capture the essence of the low cost, it is necessary from the outset to distinguish it from other practices. Paradoxically, the low cost does not stands out not by the fact of producing low-cost. Many companies lower their costs, without being low-cost : who would think to qualify for Apple’s ” low cost “, on the grounds that it assembles its iphones in China ?
Set the low cost starting price is little more fruitful : if the products low cost companies are often cheap, they do not have the monopoly low prices. Most businesses regularly practice discounts, discounts, balances, without being assimilated to the low cost. What’s more, the low cost can be very expensive, for example when a client reserves a ticket at the last moment, with paying options.
In reality, the low-cost finds its source in a work of simplification to the extreme products or services. It is…
