Home > Complement good

A perfect complement is a good that has to be consumed with another good. Many good in the real world exhibit characteristic close to perfect complementariness. An example would be a pair of shoes.

The degree of complementariness does not have to be mutual. It can be measured by cross price elasticity of demand. In the case of video games, a specific video game has to be consumed with a video game console, the base good. While a video game console does not have to be consumed with that game.

The opposite of a complement good is a substitute good.

In marketing, complementary goods give additional market power to the company. It allows vendor lock-in as it increases the switching cost . A few types of pricing strategies exist for complementary good and its base good.

• Pricing the base good at a relatively low price to the complementary good - this approach allows easy entry by consumers (e.g. consumer printers)
• Pricing the base good at a relatively high price to the complementary good - this approach creates a barrier to entry and exit (e.g. ???)

See list of economics topics, consumer theory