In general, price sensitivity is higher in emerging markets, and the general willingness to pay is lower. That being said, firms often overestimate how price conscious consumers are in emerging markets, and underestimate the spending power of up-scale consumer segments. While prestige is a driving force in all markets, segments with a high willingness to pay in developing countries show a particular emphasis on cachet, and have a strong preference for Western, state-of-the-art brands that have traditionally been in limited supply in these markets. In many cases, if you wish to target these consumers (which many firms do), then you don’t want your product to become ubiquitous.

Therefore, it is also a misconception that prices should, by default, be much lower in emerging markets. Sure, there are some very price conscious consumers -- often not worth targeting -- but there are also these aforementioned cachet-driven consumers that happily pay a premium to own a trendy, Western product. In fact, the price conscious consumers often won’t care very much about your brand, which leaves you with little competitive advantage over local firms that almost always win the price war.
Of course, you want to accommodate the lower income level and willingness to pay, but don’t leave money on the table from those high-WtP consumers. When firms serve a wide spectrum of customers in developed countries, they tend to address this problem by using a so-called price ladder.