ROI Case File No. 047 | Fighting Price Labyrinth: E-commerce Strategy

Chapter One: The Incoming Request

1891, on an afternoon when London's winter fog enveloped the city. A request letter arrived at the detective agency on 221B Baker Street.

"Dear Distinguished Detectives"

The sender was from Trans Facilia Corporation, a trading company dealing with telecommunications equipment. Opening the letter revealed urgent content:

"Our e-commerce cannot win on price alone..."

Founded in 1997 with approximately ¥1.87 billion annual revenue, this enterprise built a solid position in the telecommunications equipment industry. However, they were being tossed by modern turbulence of intensified e-commerce market competition.

"We want mechanisms to escape price competition and compete on value. Customers wander seeking lowest prices, unable to discover our true value. Please show us the path out of this labyrinth."

I, Watson, holding this request letter, sensed that essential challenges of modern commerce were concentrated here.

Chapter Two: Three Detectives' Perspectives

Before the fireplace, three detectives began discussing the request.

Gemini spoke first:
"We need UX construction centered on differentiation elements, not just unit price strategies. Without clarifying appeal axes, price competition never ends. Let's break this down with KPT Analysis, shall we? Keep: Existing quality and reliability, Problem: Insufficient value communication, Try: Clarifying differentiation axes and experience design."

Claude nodded thoughtfully and answered:
"Without words that resonate, value also remains silent. E-commerce is also a place selling stories. This one sentence, couldn't we convey it with more 'feeling'? We need to verbalize value experiences resonating with customer hearts, delivering value beyond numbers."

ChatGPT leaned forward saying:
"Hypothesis: Customer selection reasoning is vague. Trust axes can be cultivated through review and comparison pathway design. That story sounds worth expanding, doesn't it? We might be able to reconstruct value recognition mechanisms throughout entire purchase processes."

Chapter Three: Dissecting Solutions and Structures

Three detectives began multi-faceted analysis of Wedge Corporation's e-commerce strategy.

Product Appeal Structure Analysis

Gemini deployed analytical frameworks: "Let's organize with 5W1H. Who (corporate customers), What (telecommunications equipment), When (implementation timing), Where (e-commerce touchpoints), Why (selection reasons), How (purchase processes). Current Why is biased toward 'price.'"

Claude supplemented: "Price numbers are certainly understandable. However, true value lies in invisible aspects like 'security,' 'trust,' 'continuity.' These need spinning out as narratives."

Customer Pathway Challenges

ChatGPT developed hypotheses: "Viewing purchase decision processes through AIDMA, there are only price appeal axes in Attention to Interest transitions. Differentiation elements are insufficient at Desire and Memory stages."

Gemini organized structurally: "SWOT shows Strength (quality, track record), Weakness (value communication), Opportunity (digitalization demand), Threat (price competition). Weakness and Threat interlock creating negative spirals."

Value Communication Mechanism Reconstruction

Claude proposed from expression perspectives: "Not 'cheap' but 'reliable,' not 'bargain' but 'secure.' Customer perception changes with single words. Integrate cases, track records, after-service as narratives, creating value experiences beyond price."

Chapter Four: Systematic Analysis Summary

Gemini organized everything into frameworks:

Problem Structure Organization (Five-Layer Challenge Structure) 1. Surface Problem: Price competition exhaustion 2. Functional Problem: Unclear differentiation elements 3. Experience Problem: Insufficient value recognition pathways 4. Cognitive Problem: Insufficient brand value communication 5. Strategic Problem: Insufficient value proposition systematization

Solution Systematization (PDCA Circulation) - Plan: Value axis clarification and appeal strategy formulation - Do: UX/UI improvements and content enhancement - Check: Customer reaction and purchase behavior measurement - Action: Continuous improvement based on feedback

Chapter Five: Conclusion and Cross-Reinforced Hypotheses

Claude summarized from storytelling perspectives: "Wedge Corporation's true strength lies in 25 years of trust and track record. However, these values aren't woven as customer-reaching narratives. Price is the entrance; value is nurtured within relationships. Creating stories building customer trust relationships on e-commerce stages becomes the path escaping price competition."

ChatGPT presented insights from analysis results: "Hypothesis verification reveals customer purchase decision factors comprising three elements: 'price × reliability × continuity.' By strengthening not just price but post-implementation security and long-term partnership as appeal axes, transition from price competition to value competition becomes possible."

Gemini logically reinforced decisive hypotheses: "Data analysis shows price appeal CVR at 3.2% versus 4.8% when combining cases and track records—approximately 50% improvement effects. Furthermore, adding after-service appeals could improve LTV by about 30%. Value axis clarification becomes a definite path to ROI improvement."

Epilogue: Resonance and Anticipation for the Next Case

As fireplace flames burned quietly, I, Watson, reflected on this case.

Wedge Corporation lost in modern price competition labyrinths. However, three detectives' insights revealed what true value means. It wasn't mere numerical cheapness but invisible assets: customer trust relationships, long-term security, and 25 years of accumulated track record.

Gemini's logical analysis, Claude's narrative expression, ChatGPT's hypothesis development. Through these three perspectives' interwoven deductions, pathways escaping price labyrinths emerged.

"Value isn't expressible in numbers. It's trust accumulation nurtured within relationships, deepening over time."

Next time again, please anticipate detective activities challenging modern business mysteries.

One-line Catchphrase: "True detectives see not what is visible, but what is invisible."