When you search on wikipedia, pricing ethics in marketing contains “Dumping”, “Price fixing”, and “Price war” etc. The definition of Price War in wikipedia is “commercial competition characterized by the repeated cutting of prices below those of competitors”. I believe there are many Pricing wars in our society. Some examples are “Future shop” and “Best Buy” saying “we will match any listed price of other competitors”. On one side that it seems beneficial to the consumers that we can get a better price on the things we buy. But it is not good in the long run for the company. They do not have the incentive to compete on the four criteria of “Customer Excellence”, “Product Excellence”, “Operational Excellence”, and “Locational Excellence”. Other than the product is cheaper, there are no value in the product and company at all.
Take myself as example, I have never went back to buy computer from either Future Shop or Best Buy because I do not see the value in it other than it match any other price, and as soon as I learn how to build up my own PC, which is way better than theirs, of course I would ditch those companies. (Take another thought, that Future Shop and Best Buy are really making big profit on their extended warranties, which I would never get it again once I learned accounting).
On the other hand, a company such as Walmart, always advertise that they sell it cheap. But that is not Price War, it is that they have the comparative advantage of Operating Excellence. No other company can produce as cheap, of course Walmart can stand out of the competitions.
If there is one advice I might think can help Future Shop or Best Buy to add value to their customers. Maybe instead of trying to beat every single price, invest your resources into a better customer service. 1. Maybe stop charging so much for a fix of computer that only requires a reinstall. 2. Work faster with the customer request about the repair and order. If they starting to add those type of value into the company, people who are not so tech-savvy will be willing to pay for a bit more for your products for the service.