Main benefits

• Highly competitive prices on budget/low end hearing aid brands;

• Low-cost services/appointments fees;

• Easy and wide network of clinics across Australia for serviceability needs.

Main limitations

• Limited transparency on hearing aid models being sold (in like-for-like comparisions);

• Lower-quality hearing aid brands available (in like-for-like comparisions);

• Clinical services often delivered by non-audiologists to reduce costs. i.e. note the language used for who you will see there, being a 'hearing care professional'.

Retail providers achieve profitability by:

• Employing strategic mass-marketing techniques (called neuromarketing) to portray themselves to the general public as offering indistinguishable products at fair prices.
  

Reality of RHP services

Hearing aids sold by retail providers, in most cases, are not the same as others. They secure their devices on bulk in a process called 'volume-purchasing agreements' (VPA). However, because of the significant buying power these providers now hold, these favour the retailers over the manufacturers. And due to the high leverage they exercise to secure favourable contracts, this results in only the hearing aid manufacturers who offer the lowest production costs becoming suppliers  -  thus supbar products are sold.

For the end-consumer this ulimately means two key things:

• Limited information provided on actual devices purchased;

• Reduced hearing aid quality/performance, means reduced hearing outcomes.

How do they get away with it?

Simple - by leveraging the average-consumers lack of knowledge on hearing aids. Common tactics employed to do this include the use of white labelling (re-branding the hearing aids with their brand) which makes it hard to determine the product you are receiving. Other tactics include Value-Added Marketing - whereby they draw the focus of the consumer away from the products sold, onto the extra benefits you will get with them.

Main benefits

• Quality hearing aids on offer - reliable, well known brands you can trust;

• Easy and wide network of clinics across Australia for serviceability needs.
  

Main limitations

• Above market rates / inflated prices paid for hearing aids;

• Limited range in hearing aid brands available - with preference to their companies.
  

How this works

Hearing aid clinics owned by brands come with far less issues when compared to RHP. Primarily, you can trust them for providing quality hearing aids, free from reliability and transparency issues. However, it's important to note that while this is so, you are often paying a premium price on hearing aids, when compared with like-for-like products sold elsewhere.

While we cannot fault these companies on products or services, it's important to discuss the clever marketing tactics they employ to secure sales at higher prices. These include strategies such as "price anchoring", "bait pricing" and "opaque pricing". In laymen's terms, this means - falsely-inflated pricing, late-revealing of pricing and varying pricing on a need-be-basis. Examples of this include withholding prices until after the consultation and then offering a discount, which creates the opportunity to facilitate a sale with flexible pricing, enhancing the perception of value, whether it is value or not. So note that, just because something is on special, doesn't mean it's a good price!

Main benefits

• A wide variety of hearing aids on offer - enabling the ideal hearing aid per person;

• Clarity and upfront transparency in business dealings/sales;

• Generally, lower prices on quality hearing aids (when compared to non-independents);

• De-corporatised model (less upselling/unethical selling practices);

• Greater attention on the needs of clients.
  

Main limitations

• Usually, no network of clinics across Australia for serviceability needs;

• Independents cannot compete with the low services/appointments fees offered at budget retailers;

• While most independents offer fair pricing, not all of them do.

How this works

When exploring independent hearing clinics, it's important to recognise that while you can expect a superior level of service and care, associated prices can differ between some providers. At our clinic, we prioritise more competitive prices on our hearing aids. 

Also, independent providers are not just pulling the same marketing pitches like the corporations do - They are genuinely better because of how they are fundamentally strucutured:

• With no preferred suppliers or ownership - more appropriate clinical recommendations and products are on offer;

• With no corporate model in place, our focus isn't on pleasing corpo bigwigs or shareholders quarterly. It's on providing good products at fair prices;

• With less overheads, such as marketing teams, call centres and fancy shopping centre locations, it free's us up to pass savings onto our clients.