I imagine they are planning to sell as many, if not more, Starter Sets than any other single item for the edition.The old Red Box definitely encouraged people to go buy AD&D. If they make a starter set of that quality, and manage to leverage it to the same effect, they can afford to take a loss on it. I think they are likely to go that route--put as much as they can into that $20 set, or maybe even a bit more, and expect it to do heavy recruitment for them.
I doubt they'll be selling them at a loss!