Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Minimum Pricing Debate

The weak economy, as I mentioned in my last post, is encouraging cutthroat pricing wars between retailers trying to make the most of this slow year. However, manufacturers are hurting as well and trying to protect themselves with minimum pricing agreements.

This issue is currently gaining a lot of attention. As pricers we can see all sides of the issue, especially as most of these debates are centering mostly on commodity products rather that high value offerings.

As a pricer, where do you stand on the issue? How is this debate affecting your current pricing operations? More to come - Warmly, EM

The Wall Street Journal Reports:
"WASHINGTON -- Hoping to roll back a Supreme Court decision that allows manufacturers to set minimum prices on products, opponents launched a campaign that will include use of eBay Inc.'s popular Web site to garner consumer support.

At a closed-door meeting whose attendees included representatives of auctioneer eBay and discount retailer Costco Wholesale Corp., opponents decided to lobby for a bill now pending in Congress that would make minimum-pricing agreements a violation of antitrust law."

"Discounting, of course, remains a fixture on the retail landscape -- particularly in this year's holiday shopping season, due to the weak economy. MAP agreements don't cover all products and sometimes manufacturers grant exceptions. Typically the agreements apply to high-end goods, electronics and new product lines that manufacturers don't want to see tarnished by immediate discounting."

"Minimum-Price Foes to Use eBay in Effort"
"Manufacturers have been racing to enforce minimum-pricing policies since last year, when the Supreme Court ruled them to be legal, and not a violation of antitrust law. EBay and a group of other retailers and antitrust advocates are meeting Thursday in Washington to craft a strategy to overturn that ruling.

Manufacturers say minimum-pricing requirements are good because they protect a brand's image from being tarnished by discounting, while helping retailers make enough profit to pay for customer service. Consumer advocates argue that minimum-pricing deals hurt shoppers by keeping prices high and diminishing consumer choice."

"Discounters, Monitors Face Battle on Minimum Pricing"

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More Online Pricing Wars: Black Friday and Automobiles

With the economy uncertain, consumers have been increasingly less likely to spend money as freely as in recent past. This is a problem for retailers who depend on these six weeks to fix their profits for the rest of the year. Retailers are vying for the business of a shrinking consumer pool with shrinking funds, and the competition is as fierce online as in brick and mortar stores (where a Wal Mart employee was trampled to death the day after Thanksgiving by eager shoppers looking for the cheapest prices on high demand electronics):
"According to CNBC, Amazon's strategy is to use very low prices as a way of stopping competitors like eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) dead in their electronic tracks. This Christmas season, retailers, whether online or not, may find themselves in a no-win situation. They have to lower prices to encourage people to shop. But quality growth in top-line sales is questionable. When managements see the bad news flow about the global recession, they become scared and want to become even more aggressive in terms of pricing. The strategy may work and it may not. It's a vicious circle."

"Will Amazon win with its pricing strategy?"

In the vein of PriceSpider, a new website just launched which aggregates car prices around the country and helps consumers find the best deal:
"The founder of Autobrag.com, a website that searches for the best car prices, says he can help the ailing auto industry by pointing his customers toward the lowest-price deals.

Autobrag.com has amassed a database of 9,000 dealers nationwide that offer no-haggle pricing. The site uses the data to tell users what they should expect to pay for cars. When a user enters a make and model, Autobrag lists the no-haggle price and dealers offering the model within a certain radius of their zip code.

The service, launched in March 2006 with 140 dealers, now attracts 12,000 unique visitors a month, says CEO Danny Chan. And starting this week, Autobrag users can make bids on the cars through a new service, "The Braggler."

"Car Pricing Web Site Trying to Find Road to Profits"

Any retail pricers out there employing creative pricing strategies in this crucial time of year? Share your thoughts and experiences! Warmly, EM

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NFL Follows Airline Pricing Examples

The San Francisco Giants will be the first NFL team to employ "dynamic pricing" strategies to increase ticket sales in this down economy. Prices on a certain number of tickets will rise and fall each week based on demand.

The team will employ a pricing software to determine prices right up to the day before the game. See the following articles:
"The San Francisco Giants are taking a page from the airline industry and the theater. This spring, they will be come the first ball club in the country to offer a limited number of tickets with prices based on demand. It's called "dynamic pricing".

With the help of new software, the Giants will become the first team in the nation able to adjust ticket prices for a limited number of seats for walk up sales. Giants' President, Larry Baer, says this could be just the deal you're looking for if you want to see a ball game, but find your funds limited."


"Giants to Try Out Dynamic Pricing"

"Having the ability to adjust prices like airlines do can be an important tool for us in the long run," said Staci Slaughter, the team's senior vice president of communications.

"Alas, the helter-skelter nature of airline-ticket pricing often infuriates customers, as people in adjoining seats might pay vastly different sums for the same flight. The Giants recognize that, which is why the 2009 experiment will cover a small portion of seats in the vast reaches of the upper deck and the back of the bleachers that largely go unsold."

"Giants expand variable pricing: Goal is to capitalize on demand"

How will this plan work out? Will the team be successful in capturing customers who would otherwise be less likely to attend in the current economy? Will the NFL have a better time with customer reactions than the airline industry?

Add your thoughts! Warmly, EM

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Monday, December 15, 2008

Pilgrim’s Pride in Bankruptcy …. Amazingly “Bo” Pilgrim Still Doesn’t Get Pricing

Thanks to our contributing pricing expert, Tim Smith, PhD, for this enlightening guest post.

Cost of chicken feed is up, but the price of chicken is flat to down. What went wrong? Marshall's scissors alone would predict the current profit failures in chicken production.

Though branding and quality issues can provide price differentiation within the chicken market, the core price level of chicken is set by the willingness of producers to supply and consumers to buy. At some level, chicken is a commodity. Even where it is not, the price differential of "good" chicken to "acceptable" chicken may increase the price of the "good" chicken over "acceptable" chicken, but its total price of "good" chicken is dependent on the price of the "acceptable" chicken. The basic value approach to pricing dictates: the price of "good" chicken = price of "acceptable" chicken + price differential. Thus, if you increase supply of "acceptable" chicken while demand is flat, the market clearing price of most all chicken will go down.

Lower prices of chicken may not be all bad if the producers have sufficient economies of scale that increase with increasing production faster than prices fall with increases in supply, but such economies aren't sufficient for chicken producers today. Today, the cost of producing chickens is going up. Roughly two-thirds the price of chicken is derived from the cost of chicken feed, and during the past two years chicken feed went up from $2.40 a bushel to $7 a bushel before recently declining to a more modest level near $4 a bushel.

When marginal costs go up, prices need to increase. With increasing prices, supply will need to decrease. Simple application of Marshall's scissors.

But, instead of cutting back production, in all of Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim's wisdom, he has decided to use the bankruptcy protection to maintain production. He seems to have an unbounded faith that somehow demand will increase and he will make a profit. He may have faith, but I will trust the science of economics – which predicts the market clearing price of chicken will continue to remain below marginal costs to produce until supply adjust appropriately to market demand. Thus, for now, Bo Pilgrim is "strategically" destroying profits.

Let's hope his bankers ask this octogenarian to step aside for someone who is using his brain intelligence rather than his faith intelligence. In the meantime, I feel bad for Tyson Foods, a competing chicken producer, as they have to deal with a nasty industry wide challenge. As is true for other industries, pricing power is subject to the actions of the stupidest competitor.

Tim Smith, PhD is an Adjunct Professor teaching Pricing at DePaul University and Managing Principal of Wiglaf Pricing. www.wiglafpricing.com.

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Tuesday, December 9, 2008

How is today’s economy impacting company pricing plans?

How is today’s economy impacting company pricing plans?

Your pricing department activity and staffing issues?

Well the Macro-economic news is overwhelming. Good time to connect with you and about your micro-economic issues of the day.

To what extent is your company responding to downward price pressures? How much more or less is the company turning to your department for price and profit help?

Perhaps your company is the exception and plans to thrive with pricing in 2009.
Look at McDonald’s who just reported an 8% sales increases, despite huge currency impacts. They credit lower pricing, more frequent promotions and a healthier menu to their success.
For example --my McDonalds now offers free coffee every workday morning ; so guess who switched out of Starbucks for Mickey D? ( right me!-and “I’m lovin it”)

Please Share with the pricers what seems to be working / or not in your pricing world. Eric Mitchell Founder PPS

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Tuesday, December 2, 2008

SaaS Pricing Model Expands as Economy Tightens

As more and more businesses are tightening their belts and preparing for more economic uncertainty in the near future, software providers are increasingly moving to provide SaaS (software as a service) solutions and pricing models. Fewer companies are budgeting for the capital expenditures needed for enterprise system purchases or upgrades, and are instead opting for Web-based platforms that are easy to integrate and don't require the purchase of additional hardware.

Another recent SaaS pricing model announcement:
Sunrise Software, a leading independent provider of IT Service Management software, today announced a new subscription pricing model designed to help organisations budget for ITIL in a tougher economic climate. The offering combines the benefits of on-premise, hosted software and Software as a Service (SaaS) models for Sunrise's range of IT Service Management (ITSM) and ITIL software solutions. The introduction of Sunrise Software's subscription pricing model means that although customers will rent the appropriate software, it will remain hosted and maintained at the customer site.

Under the terms of Sunrise Software's new subscription pricing model, customers can benefit from the lower capital expenditure of a SaaS model, but still enjoy the complete control and configurability of an on-premise model. There is just one upfront payment for project and training costs, followed by an annual subscription to the software.

Tom Weston, Chairman of Sunrise Software, commented: "We believe this new pricing model represents a particularly attractive package for those organisations under pressure to improve their IT cost/performance ratio. With the new subscription model, it is now even easier for potential customers to reap the rewards of ITIL, without having to compromise on functionality and flexibility to meet stringent cost requirements."

Read the full story: "Sunrise Software's New Subscription Pricing Model Broadens Reach For Best Of Breed ITIL Tool."

Does your company provide or use an SaaS solution? If so, do you feel that the pricing models are fair? Do they make it worth the investment vs. purchasing new in-house systems? For providers, how are you modifying your pricing structure in the current economy?

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Holiday Pricing Search Engine

Move over Google spider - there is a new spider in town.

PriceSpider.com, a search bot that scans retail sites online for consumer price comparison, in expanding and advertising its benefits to consumers this holiday season:
The advantage of PriceSpider.com is its active search engine technology that continuously scans for pricing and product information. Holiday shoppers can utilize the PriceSpider.com Gift Guide to find the perfect present for the gadget-minded on their list. Shoppers can also create and share lists with their friends and family to peek into their wish lists. Additionally, the tool can be used to access the lists of the gadget savvy to help make the best gift-giving decision.

Read the full article: "PriceSpider.com Helps Consumers This Holiday Shopping Season"

How will pricing professionals in the retail industries be affected by this spider (if at all)? How will pricing strategies adjust? As always, we welcome feedback from pricers!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Six Things To Improve Your Sales And Price Position

Here’s a pithy article by Robert Imbriale, a Marketing Consultant
and author of The Business Hotline, and another favorite from the Professional Pricing Society Archives. In this competitive and slowing economy, any strategy you can capitalize on to give you a cutting edge will be important, and applying proven, best practices is always a smart approach. Cheers, EM

Six Things To Improve Your Sales And Price Position

#1 Add More Value To What You Sell
Have you ever heard a customer ask you, "Is that all I get for this price?" Chances are you have. It could mean that you are not offering enough value for what you are charging, or it could be a misinformed client. What can you do to add value to your products or services? Try adding value by including items that cost you very little or even nothing at all. Think of creative ways in which you can add value to your base product or service offerings.

#2 Offer Items Of Complimentary Importance With Each Purchase
This is one of the most profitable things you can do to increase your average unit of purchase. You accomplish two things by offering complimentary products or services. First, you add value to your products or services by offering items that you know your customers will need to buy at some point. And you are saving them the trouble of having to go to another business for these items. If you sell cameras, offer batteries, film, protective cases, and other useful accessories at the time of purchase. In a service business, you can offer products that enhance your service.

#3 Sell Upgrades

Upgrades differ from complimentary products in that they are generally a better version of the same product as opposed to a complimentary or "add-on" product. In the computer industry, this is done all the time. There is no reason that you could not apply those same.

#4 Use Risk Reversal

Here's a really powerful way to increase your sales, but you have to think this one out carefully. Offer your products or services as risk free as possible to your customers. You may offer a full money back guarantee, as opposed to most companies that offer only 30 days. The rule of thumb is to keep the risk to your customer as low as possible. Returns on quality products have proven not to increase proportionately with sales, so don't worry about being overwhelmed by returns, it won't happen!

#5 Create Special Offers To Past Customers
The most profitable market is your past customers. They have already participated in business transactions with you and have developed trust in your operation and in your products. Why not take full advantage of this fact by developing specials for "preferred customers?" If you negotiate a special deal for some product or you are planning on carrying an entirely new product line, why not let your preferred customers know about it before the rest of the world? Go a step further and offer them special pricing on those products or services if they act before a specified date.

#6 Market Payment Terms
Do you offer your customers various payment options? The more flexibility you have, the better off you will be. Leasing is an easy option to set up with the large number of leasing firms in business today. Offer as many payment options as possible so that you totally remove payment as a barrier.

These and numerous other pricing resources are available to members in the Professional Pricing Society archives.

Christmas Pricing Wars

Here are a few stories from Forbes covering retailers who are slashing prices to encourage high toy sales among Christmas shoppers despite low consumer spending and current economic conditions.

Wal Mart, not surprisingly, took the first step. Forbes reported on October 1:
Wal-Mart Toys With Xmas Strategy: Retailer will target cash-strapped consumers with low-priced playthings for their tots.

"Wal-Mart took the holiday-season initiative on Wednesday, announcing that it would be cutting prices on several toys in 3,500 American stores as a way to draw shoppers for the important year-end period. Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) said it made the call after conducting a survey that showed consumers will start Christmas shopping earlier this year in order to stretch their holiday dollars. Though Wal-Mart caters to low-income shoppers, retailers have been hurt by sluggish spending due to rising food and energy prices, the housing slump and a generally weak economic climate. (See "Trouble On The Street For Retail.") The industry doesn't see a quick fix to those trends and is anticipating a subdued holiday season."

Read the full article: "Wal-Mart Toys With Xmas Strategy."

One day later, KB Toys strikes back. From Forbes:
"Retailer matches Wal-Mart's $10 pricing strategy.

KB Toys said Thursday that it would be cutting prices on more than 200 toys to $10 or less in an effort to draw consumers to its stores and to compete against the large discount retailers. Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) made a similar move on Wednesday. (See "Wal-Mart Toys With Xmas Strategy.") The discount store has been able to fare the rough economic climate better than most as people flock to it for one-stop shopping. But smaller retailers like the privately held KB Toys have been having a hard time of it."

Read the full article: "KB Toys Strikes Back."

So how black will "Black Friday" be for retailers? And how will these pricing wars pan out? We welcome comments from our readers and will be keeping track of developments.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Tips From a Software Pricing Guru

Pricing and negotiating software deals has never been easy
and every situation is different. Anyone trying to do a good
job of pricing and negotiating knows it takes experience,
insight, courage and wisdom. These tips come from the real
world experiences of Professional Pricing Society Board
Member Jim Geisman, President, Marketshare, Inc. The
complete brochure can be purchased at www.moreshare.
com. E.M.

1. Learn Your Customer’s Business

2. Value = Benefit - Cost

3. Reinforce Value with Price List

4. “Meet the Competition” Pricing

5. “Pre-emptive” Pricing

6. Use Credit Instead of Price Cuts

7. Use a Team to Set Pricing

8. Get the Support Pricing Requires

9. Take the Time to Resolve Pricing Up Front

10. Put Pricing and Discounting Together

11. Price List Must Fit Sales Comp

12. Make Easy-to-Use Price Book

13. Run the Numbers

14. Develop Standard Discount Policies

15. Product Bundle Discounts

To read the full article: Fifteen Pricing Tips from a Software Pricing Guru

Fundamentals of Pricing Strategies and Tactics

A timeless article on pricing strategy that I wrote more than 20 years ago. Notice how pricing strategies have long shelf lives. Warmly, EM
The following five factors should be considered when establishing a pricing strategy:

Competition: Who is your competition? How many competitors do you have? The number of competitors you face can often be more important than who they are,especially when involved in a bidding process.

Customers: Should you differentiate pricing according to customer class instead of service or product? This practice is more and more common as most businesses have several classes of customers, some of which are price sensitive, while others are not.

Financials: What are your gross margins on products and services?

Perceived Value: Do your customers perceive a difference between your services and those of your competition? If so, are they willing to pay for the difference you offer?

Marketing Objectives: What are your primary and secondary objectives? Obviously, some of your objectives will conflict. It is your role to resolve these conflicts by determining and communicating primary and secondary objectives. You instinctively know which objectives are most important, but your people require constant direction to maintain their focus. In addition, quantify your objectives whenever possible.

Click to read the full article: Fundamentals of Pricing Strategies and Tactics

Monday, November 3, 2008

4 Steps from Pricing Competency to Pricing Leadership

Here is another favorite from the PPS pricing articles archive. The subject is highly relevant, especially in today's environment of an uncertain economy and fluctuating prices on products and services. EM

Pricing Leadership is the ability of the corporate team to agree on the strategically sound pricing plan, implement it, and succeed in the marketplace. For the pricing professional to help the team reach a position of Pricing Leadership, he or she must develop the softer skills of business to complement the analytical capabilities. Pricing Leadership has a component of thought leadership, yet its true effectiveness is unleashed through motivating and orientating other individuals towards a common identified goal. To progress from Pricing Competency to Pricing Leadership, you must take four critical behavioral steps!

Step 1: Pick Your Battles
If you fight every little issue, people will consistently perceive you as arrogant or out-of-touch. In the end, this reduces your potential role as a pricing leader who helps create company strategy to one who at best, might provide technical pricing analysis. Pricing Leadership requires discretion; select in advance those issues you can champion, and which ones you will openly and proudly defer to the judgment of others.

Step 2: Explain, Don't Proclaim
Pricing Leadership implies that people willingly choose to follow an agreed pricing plan, not begrudgingly accept the restrictions of it. Teams will champion a plan when they understand the rational behind the decisions which formulated the plan. Authoritatively proclaiming your pricing plan is the right one ensures that others will find reasons to disagree with it.

Step 3: Understand That Pricing Is About Guidelines, Not Laws
Real life market situations will result in customer price transactions that are far different than those prices you developed at the strategic pricing level. In the end, the strategic pricing plan is just that, a plan, not a mandate. Good pricing plans are living creatures. They are flexible and evolve with time.

Step 4: Realize That Sales Is Your Ally, Not Your Enemy
Pricing professionals and sales teams have a common goal, to create customers and capture profitable revenues. As a Pricing Leader, you must find means to work well with the sales team. To the customer, the salesperson is the corporate advocate. To the corporation, the sales team is the customer advocate. As a pricer, please recognize their dual role and the unique insights they gain from being the conduit between the corporation and the customer.


Read the full article here: "Four Steps from Pricing Competency to Pricing Leadership."

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Software As A Service (Saas) Sees More Price Aggression On The Horizon

Now this industry’s pricing outlook seems more “on point”. Highlighting change is coming but yet not panicking. Any one in the industry able to confirm or add a point or two about price changes in SaaS? Let us know what you think.

- Eric Mitchell Founder and Chairman PPS

Read the article from PCWorld: "Economic Woes May Lower SaaS Prices."

Is Ericsson CEO Right That Prices Are Likely To Remain Stable?

Ericsson cites citing weekend competitors as the primary reason for their rosy outlook for telecom.

Well this is one pricer who says “not so fast” The telecom maker should address that “other #1 factor” in pricing the customer.

Customer demand in a weakened economy?? Might look dismal going forward, me thinks. And if so bye, bye stable pricing market.

How is pricing stability looking in your industry? Do you think that the Ericsson CEO is right ? Or claiming fears? - Eric Mitchell Founder and Chairman PPS

Read the article from Bloomberg: "Ericsson CEO-no change in recent pricing conditions."

Monday, October 13, 2008

Innovative Companies Rethink Pricing Metrics

This is an excerpt from a great article from the Thunderbird School of Global Management entitled "Innovative Companies Rethink Pricing Metrics":

"When General Electric entered the jet engine market, the Ohio-based company took an innovative approach to pricing policy. Instead of selling jet engines for a one-time fixed cost, GE decided to charge “power by the hour” through a program that bills customers whenever the sold jet engine is in the air.

"Similarly, the DVD rental company Netflix changed the rules of the movie rental game by charging a monthly subscription and eliminating late fees.

"Despite such examples of the critical role that pricing policy can play in a company’s overall marketing strategy and success, business practitioners and scholars have largely ignored the topic and left managers with little guidance on the subject."

Read the full article: "Innovative Companies Rethink Pricing Metrics."

The Top 5 Myths of Strategic Pricing

Below is a summary of the article "The Top Five Myths of Strategic Pricing." This article By: John E. Hogan and Joe Zale is one of PPS' favorites from its Pricing Advisor Newsletter Archives.
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Across the board, managers have absorbed these “worst practices,” and they unknowingly make poor decisions that undermine their businesses. A common reason for such poor decision making is that managers carry those rules and techniques from one competitive environment into another.

What may work in one situation becomes merely myth in another. Are you buying into any of the following myths?

Myth 1: You can’t raise prices and volume at the same time.

In many companies, executives believe demand curves (i.e., price and volume) are fixed. This leads into the trap of thinking that optimizing price and volume is the only hope for driving profit. However, price optimization is only a small piece of the answer. It’s actually possible to hit multiple points on a demand curve with one product that will drive both volume and price simultaneously. This can be accomplished by creating tiered offerings that break products and services into different bundles that attract different customer segments.

Instead of a one-size-fits-all product offering and price, multiple product offerings and price points can be created. The result is higher prices for premium offerings and higher volume for the standard offerings. The net effect, if orchestrated properly, is significantly higher overall profits.


Myth 2: Pricing more profitably means having to raise prices.

Structuring prices to encourage cost avoidance is another way to price more profitably without actually raising prices. Big opportunities to improve profits lie in areas not often considered in the realm of pricing. By that, we mean service features that often get wrapped into a company’s offering, such as rush orders, financial terms, warehousing and technical support.

Instead of bundling services into a product offering like an “all you can eat” buffet, positioning them as a la carte upgrades can help improve profits through cost avoidance. Customers will think twice about paying for services they don’t actually value. The net effects are to lower cost-to-serve and increase share from customers who forgo services, and increase revenue from those who value these services. When you add it all together, this approach can yield big dollars in profit improvement.

Myth 3: Prices should be set to cover total cost plus some target margin.

The goal of pricing is not to cover total costs. Our clients often struggle with this challenge because the concept is counterintuitive and the mistake so pervasive in companies. Instead, the goal of pricing is to maximize total contribution (i.e., unit price minus unit variable costs).

Why? Because the portion of price that affects profitability is contribution margin. Whether that contribution exceeds or falls short of profit objectives is not a pricing issue. In other words, allocating fixed costs within the price does not help make better pricing decisions because those costs are not actually incurred when making additional sales.

Myth 4: You should drive volume in a high fixed-cost business.

On the surface, this statement is true; however, there is a trap. We see many high fixed-cost businesses becoming more variable over time, and yet they are not adjusting their management thinking to reflect that change.

Myth 5: The prices you can charge are proportional to increases in product performance (e.g., quality, speed, costs).


While it sounds simple, many people fail to remember that product improvements are not proportional to the value they deliver. Superior performance can command superior pricing.Product managers often get fixated on a customer’s willingness to pay and worry too much about a product’s pricing history.

In particular, we find market researchers guilty of this mistake, providing recommendations
that leave significant value on the table for their clients.

Access the full article "The Top Five Myths of Strategic Pricing."

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Airline Pricing: Are Airlines About To Get It Handed To Them ?

After years of being the butt of pricing jokes and the hall of Fame for Revenue Management, I now wonder if the tide is really gone to turn on airlines.

They have increasingly unbundled almost everything as a pro-active strategy. But below is a blog from the travel industry itself that begins to raise real questions about the sageness of this approach - Eric Mitchell

Here is a blog from Senior Travel Blog
By Nancy Parode, About.com Guide to Senior Travel

Unbundling Airfares - Good Value or Money Grab?
Monday October 6, 2008

"The Associated Press reported today that American Airlines is giving serious thought to "unbundling" airfares. This pricing strategy involves charging all passengers a base fee and adding options or groups of options for an additional charge."

"American Airlines' approach to fare unbundling seems to be based on the Air Canada model, rather than the more extreme, charge-you-for-everything Ryanair system. Air Canada offers four fare levels, with different options and privileges included at each level. Options include meal vouchers, priority boarding and baggage handling and reduced change fees.

What do you think? Would you prefer this "unbundled" pricing approach, or would you rather pay one price and have access to all the "options"? Take our poll and share your opinion."

And another perspective from MSNBC: "American Airlines plans à la carte pricing"

Carrier to offer bare-bones services at base fees, charge for add-on items.

"American Airlines is about to accelerate the trend of breaking the cost of a trip into an airfare plus many smaller fees.

Starting next year, American, which led a stampede by U.S. carriers to charge customers for checking even a single suitcase, plans to imitate the a la carte pricing structure pioneered by Air Canada, airline officials say. There are likely to be a few basic fare plans, and travelers can pick additional services — for a fee.

Fans of "unbundling," as it’s called, say it gives travelers lower base fares with the option of paying for extras that they really want, from beverages to blankets.

Some travelers are wary, however, and suspect the airlines are just trying to chisel them a few bucks at a time."

Thoughts?

Monday, September 29, 2008

UK Retailers-Are they headed in the Wrong Pricing Direction?

The current economic situation isn't just affecting the U.S. Retailers in the UK are also facing sharply increasing costs including higher fuel and utility bills, as well as the sudden weakening of the pound and soaring cost increases from suppliers in Asia. In response, these retailers making gambles with their pricing strategies to attempt to pass some of these increased costs onto consumers. But will these strategies back fire and do more damage than good? Will this attempt to compensate cost only reduce volume from customers who are also feeling an economic pinch in their personal finances? The situation poses the question: "Is it more important to try and maintain sales levels with a slightly squeezed ... margin, or is it more important to have a better margin with a lower volume of sales?"

"British clothing retailers, facing sharp cost increases, are planning a gamble that could backfire by raising prices next year in what could be one of the worst consumer downturns in 30 years.

Top chains such as Marks & Spencer Group Plc, Next Plc, Debenhams Plc and Top Shop owner Arcadia are not only struggling with higher fuel and utility bills, but also the sudden weakening of the pound and soaring cost increases from suppliers in Asia.

The rising costs present retailers with a major problem.

If they cannot pass the increases on to shoppers -- in a market some analysts reckon could be as tough as the recession of the late 1970s -- their profit margins will be hit, and if they do pass them on their sales volumes will likely suffer."


Read the full article: UK clothing retailers' price gamble may backfire.

PPS Price Optimization Survey Highlighted in B2B Marketing Article

An effective pricing strategy can be one of the biggest influencers of profit margins for a company, yet it remains one of its most complex functions and one of the areas allocated with the fewest resources. Yet, according to one of our recent surveys, pricing strategies have gained a lot of attention from C-level executives, including purchasing and supply chain officers. This article from Industry Week references the Professional Pricing Society survey, and focuses on how more and more companies are turning to pricing technologies to increase profitability. Thanks to Zilliant for their participation in this study!

"One of the key points made in the survey was the growing focus on pricing among top-level management, as a vast majority of respondents (82%) cite "high" or "very high" levels of executive attention on the pricing function. According to Eric Mitchell, president of the Professional Pricing Society, pricing strategies have gained a lot of attention from C-level executives, including purchasing and supply chain officers."


Read the full article: Price Check on Manufacturing.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Update on the 99 Cents Store

Has Canada answered the 99 Cents Question with its $5 Store?
"First, five-and-dimes gave way to dollar stores. Now, inflation pressures are threatening to make the dollar store a thing of the past, too.

Dollarama Group LP, Canada's largest dollar store operator, is set to abandon its "all at $1" pricing strategy at its 536 stores in the new year, the company said yesterday.

After Feb. 1, Dollarama will introduce three new price levels - $1.25, $1.50 and $2 - though it says the majority of items will still sell for $1.

"After 16 years at a dollar, we've found in the last few years sourcing dollar products has become a little more difficult," Dollarama chief executive officer Larry Rossy said in a rare interview. "Meanwhile, during our recent buying trips [to Asia] we were consistently offered 'wow' items at the $1.50 to $2 price point."

Read the full article: Million-dollar question: Are $5 stores up next? Sounds like the the 4.99 idea is spot on. Thanks to our bloggers Per Sjofors and Rafi Mohammed for their thoughts

Pricing Science

Managing Automation recently posted an article discussing the importance of solid, scientifically based pricing strategies in the health and success of an organization:

For a long time now, the practice of product pricing has involved more art than science, with product managers and sales professionals governed mostly by what "felt right." In recent years, however, science has started to gain the upper hand, and the sun may be setting on the era of "pricing by the gut."

In manufacturers' never-ending quest to turn over every stone that may yield better profits and allay the pressures of a bustling global marketplace, the list of strategies is long and growing: business-spanning ERP systems, lean manufacturing, collaborative networks that tie in partners across the supply chain, and outsourced labor, to name a few. An item that only recently made the list is one that seems the most obvious, at least in retrospect: pricing science.

Many in the pricing field have agreed, asking the question:

Despite its direct impact on margins, price is easily the most neglected aspect of operational infrastructure. So why is price strategy and optimization all too often neglected?

Post your thoughts and weigh in your opinions about why pricing is often treated so casually, despite its importance to profitability, especially in economic conditions like we are currently facing.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Sunday, September 14, 2008

What Would You Do If...?

If You Were CEO if 99 Cents Only Stores?
As a new feature for our recently launched PPS blog, I invite you to participate and contribute your perspective, on some of today’s real world pricing issues.
Below is the first in this series of “What Would You Do If?
Eric Mitchell,
Founder and Chairman, the Professional Pricing Society.

Ninety-nine cents just doesn't go as far as it used to, and that's a problem for 99 Cents Only. Faced with rising inflation and soaring food prices, the large retailer ,founded in 1982 --- known for never selling anything for more than 99 cents — is re-evaluating its pricing strategy.

According to the LA Times (9/2/2008,) Chief Executive Eric Schiffer said "There's no question we're going to need to do something," said after the company reported its second consecutive quarterly loss. "When you are part of a family that comes up with a concept, sometimes you're the last to admit that it needs to be changed."

99 Cents Only, pioneered the single-price retail concept. It has expanded to 277 locations, mostly in California but also in Nevada, Arizona and Texas.
The deep-discount retailer sells groceries, household supplies, health and beauty products, and it remains one of the few true "dollar" stores.

Competitive Landscape

At discount chain Dollar General , current promotions include $8 backpacks and $2 for a box of Ziploc sandwich bags. Family Dollar Stores, a chain of more than 6,500 discount stores, currently is advertising Glad trash bags for $4.99 and Huggies diapers for $9.99. In fact, keeping prices at a buck or less was never part of the overall pricing scheme at Family Dollar, an large competitor based in NC.

99 Cents Only is able to offer such low prices because of a business model that is "not based on having every single variety of every product out there," said President Jeff Gold.

But lately, the company just can't get a wide-enough or attractive-enough selection of goods that it can turn around and sell for such a low price, Gold said. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator, 99 cents in 1982 has the same buying power as $2.26 in 2008.

By capping prices at 99 cents, the chain has had to play around with the quantity and size of its goods, which can confuse customers.

But "The number 99 is a magic number — deviating from that is something we absolutely are not taking lightly," said Gold, "I find significant discomfort emotionally about considering making the change."

OK Pricers ---What Would You Do ? -- If you suddenly were appointed as the CEO of 99 Cents Only.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

One Laptop per Child: A Case of Action Pricing

This is one of my favorite Case studies from the Pricing Advisor Newsletter, Jan. 2008 EM

Tech-savvy people, as well as the socially conscious, have been intrigued by the idea of "one laptop per child" since it made a splash as a formal initiative in January 2005 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It was proposed by Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder and chairman emeritus of the MIT Media Lab.

The time seemed ripe: The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Foundation quickly signed up Google, News Corp., AMD, Brightstar, and Red Hat. Taiwan-based Quanta Computer Inc. agreed to manufacture the laptop.
On the technological front, OLPC tackled puzzles, such as creating a product both useful and fun for children of primary school age.
But despite its visionary goals and widespread public interest, OLPC has encountered more difficulty than anticipated in nudging governments from polite handshakes to cash commitments.

One problem: the price. Although originally envisioned as the "$100 PC," OLPC has struggled to bring the price below $175. And now it faces competition in its low-cost market from for-profit powerhouses such as Intel, Dell, and Lenovo.

Such wide-ranging issues are the focus of the case, coauthored by Harvard Business School (HBS) professor John Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop, executive director of the HBS Global Research Group.
The first countries to give the thumbs-up for their children were Libya, Uruguay, Rwanda, Peru, and Mexico. Of course, OLPC aspires to obtain many more commitments to fulfill its vision of "one laptop per child."
Herein, marketers find much food for thought.

According to Quelch, a HBS professor of marketing, the laptop’s creation and diffusion are special for several reasons. They form a perfect example of the evolution of "action pricing"—setting an audacious price goal and then "engineering backwards" the design of the product to meet it. The laptop typifies technological breakthroughs that influence the mainstream in ways that could have a large potential impact. The diffusion also suggests the stumbling blocks any company would encounter globally when carrying out such a worthy but ambitious goal.

The whole story further points to the personal challenges that face the originator of a cool nonprofit idea when "me-too" for-profit companies seek to compete for the same customers.

Action Pricing in ActionQuelch notes that action pricing has occasionally been used by consumer durables manufacturers (refrigerator makers, for example) when they decide to build a particular product priced very attractively for consumers.

With the XO laptop, action pricing met a new level of complexity. OLPC set a price goal, $100, which seemed challenging but doable based on the XO’s technological building blocks—such as its reliance on freely available open-source software. In addition, OLPC had to determine the right mix of attributes and features that would appeal to the target users, children. Design could not be an afterthought; the laptop had to be attractive enough so a young person would feel proud to own it.

The XO also required network capability to encourage collaborative tasks from writing assignments to playing digital instruments. At the same time it needed to address constraints such as the lack of electrical power in many remote rural areas—a problem the XO solves in several ways. Kids can recharge the battery by pulling a cord or attaching a solar panel, and the battery itself is long-lasting.

Breakthroughs and ImplementationThe XO laptop also illustrates how goal-setting can raise the bar in an industry.

"A number of technology breakthroughs were part and parcel of the development of this product. They could potentially be extended later to the benefit of users of all PCs," says Quelch. Unlike most laptops, its screen is easily readable even in bright sunlight. Users can save power by switching the screen from backlit color to self-reflecting monochrome.
"Using less power meant generating less heat, obviating the need for a power-consuming cooling fan," according to the case.

Despite these design and technological advances, the XO laptop has faced its biggest challenges in the realm of adoption and diffusion, says Quelch. Although it is set for distribution to kids in the above-named countries, its boosters have faced a long road to seal the deals, and a lot of work lies ahead.

"While on the surface it is a laudable vision to get one laptop to each child, and the motives are pristine, there are stumbling blocks in implementation," observes Quelch.

The conservative nature of governments, complex bureaucracy, and decision-making hurdles can all interfere with early public sector adoption of even the most worthy innovation, he says. This slower-than-expected adoption and diffusion may have surprised the leaders of OLPC.
"I think they may have underestimated the political roadblocks that could be put in the path of adoption. If you are a technology-centric person in the West you don’t think in terms of a computer replacing a teacher; but in a budget-strapped developing country environment, resources are so limited, there aren’t enough teachers. Should PCs absorb money that could pay for additional teachers?"


Hot Competition

Even as the OLPC experienced delays in securing orders, potential competitors were taking notice. The so-called bottom-of-the-pyramid market was now a focus of attention from mainstream PC makers facing maturation of their markets in developed countries.
According to the case, "In July 2007, PC maker Everex announced it would start selling its PCs at Wal-Mart for $298. Microsoft launched the $522 IQ PC aimed at children in India. Moreover, in August 2007, Lenovo, which manufactures a third of all computers sold in China, announced it would offer a laptop priced between $199 and $399 targeted at China’s rural population. The PCs would plug into TVs instead of monitors. Lenovo, based in China, planned to use its network of 5,000 dealers to sell the laptops."

It wasn’t just PC makers that were attracted to this new market. Chip giant Intel did not want to relinquish a potentially lucrative market to its key rival AMD, an early supporter of OLPC. Intel is promoting the low-cost Classmate PC, which retails at a price higher than, but is in the same ballpark as, the XO laptop. (Intel also joined the OLPC initiative in July 2007.)

As the case shows, Lenovo and Intel are established players "who saw the initiative, understood its significance, and then brought their commercial resources to bear on further developing their product lines to address the emerging need."

Quelch adds, this "must have been faintly depressing if you were the originator of the idea, now seeing your idea being imitated.
On the other hand, a socially responsible not-for-profit leader should surely be pleased when the commercial sector is motivated to bring its resources to bear on the problem at hand, and prospectively accelerate the distribution of low-cost personal computers to more people much faster than would have occurred otherwise."

The case challenges students to see entrepreneurship in a new light. It is the mark of an extraordinary entrepreneur, the originator of any breakthrough idea, to see beyond his or her own personal "ownership" of the concept and to let the solution to a problem take precedence—in this case, children the world over can access the educational aspects of computing.

OLPC has made a difference already because it changed the landscape in terms of dreams and expectations. Observers can see what makes the goal of one laptop per child difficult to achieve. Says Quelch, "When you envision something as powerful and transforming as this concept, it is exceptionally easy to identify so many implementation problems that you simply give up.

One key to new product development is to keep the ambition of the vision always front and center to motivate you to solve the many problems that you’re going to confront." One laptop at a time.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

PPS Favorite:Don't Just Set Prices, Manage Them

This article By: George Cressman & Thom Nagle is one of PPS' favorites from its Pricing Advisor Newlsletter Archives
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Pricing strategically involves managing customers' expectations to induce them to pay for the value they receive. Pricing strategy is the coordination of multiple activities to achieve a common
objective: profitable prices.

If managers think about pricing only when they must set a price, then pricing becomes a tactical exercise of matching price to customers' willingness to pay. When, however, managers think of pricing as a process of capturing value, then pricing strategy involves managing everything that raises willingness to pay closer to the value received.

Ultimately, prices must reflect customers' willingness to pay, but managers can change willingness to pay by manipulating the pricing environment. They can change willingness to pay via the price structure, the pricing process, or the value message communicated.


Price Structure

In a value-based price structure, prices change with the value delivered. While intuitively appealing, such structures are rare.
A printing company built its reputation on quality work with high levels of customer service. Despite this commitment, both the company and its customers thought of the product in terms of
units of printing, with services seen merely as "value-adds."
Because this company set prices for the commodity, but gave away the differentiating services, it was often on the defensive when a potential customer compared the company's bid for the same
print job with one from a less service-oriented competitor. As a result, the company's prices were beaten down in price negotiations. Despite a strong market share, its costs were high and its profits disappointing.

The solution to this company's problem was to determine which of its services added differentiating value for customers and then charge for those services separately. Once the company started thinking in terms of value, services that had been taken for granted became
sources of profit improvement. Offering customers a lower cost in return for accepting lower service forced customers either to acknowledge what they valued or to do without it. By unbundling service elements
and charging for them, the company became more price competitive for jobs requiring little added service, while recovering the costs and capturing the value of differentiation from customers who needed it.

Price structure can be made more value-based either by selecting price metrics that vary with value received, or by establishing segmentation fences that limit discounts only to those customers that get less value.
Price metrics are the units to which the price is applied.

Film distributors can choose to charge theaters a fixed charge per day, a daily charge based on the number of seats in the theater, or a percentage of the receipts earned from showing a film. They usually use the last because it better reflects the value to the theater owner of showing the film. Segmentation fences are criteria that customers must meet to qualify for discounts.

At movie theaters, the segmentation fences are usually based on age (with discounts for children under age 12 and for seniors), each of whom is assumed to be more price-sensitive. Segmentation fences work well for pricing services and when the segmentation criteria is
something verifiable, such as the buyer's age, legal status, or location of purchase. When the obvious segmentation criteria aren't easily verifiable, or when the product could be purchased by a buyer who qualified for a discount and resold to one who did not, segmentation fences break down.

In most cases, where fences alone prove inadequate to segment markets, successful pricers must develop metrics to track value. Finding segmentation fences and price metrics that more closely track with value can drive both more sales and margin. The trick is to find
metrics that allow prices to vary automatically, keeping customers in the "price=value" range. Not all value-based price metrics are related to the product or service delivered. Better metrics may be related to the customer. Software suppliers will send one disk to load on the company
server, but will charge for it based on the number of workstations on which the customer will use the software.

When value is affected by economic conditions in the buying firm's industry, a value metric may be tied to some objective measure of those conditions.

The key to creating a more profitable price structure is to study how segments differ in what drives value for them and what drives cost to serve them. The challenge then is to create a price structure with fences and metrics that automatically charges more when a sale creates more value for the buyer or predictably higher incremental costs for the seller.

The Pricing Process

A value-based price structure is not, by itself, sufficient for successful pricing. The process for setting price levels within that structure must also be proactive. Many companies have no formal process for making price changes or granting price exceptions. This creates conflict not only
within the firm, but also between the firm and customers who become aware of the inconsistency. One large consumer packaged-goods company uses objective criteria for establishing list prices.

The actual price, however, depends on how much each product manager decides to "price promote" the product-either to the consumer or to the trade. The tragedy of this process is that no one estimates the effect that discounting one brand is having on sales of the company's other brands. Consequently, the company often undermines its profitability by competing with itself.

Companies in B2B markets commonly have even more reactive pricing processes simply because, by selling directly, they can more easily get away with inconsistent rules. Many have eschewed fixed-price policies and strict criteria for discounting, relying instead on non-policies
that make any price negotiable so long as the sale meets some minimum profit criteria. By allowing these reactive, ad hoc decisions, managers often think their companies can respond more quickly to market conditions while limiting discounting to situations where competitive pressure makes it necessary.

Experience usually proves them wrong. To eliminate these perverse incentives, managers must create prices that customers perceive as
having integrity. That requires setting prices and discount levels proactively, by policy, not in reaction to individual customer misinformation and manipulation. The development of a fixed price policy must be centralized. This ensures consistency across customers who might cross-ship products or exchange information about prices. Ironically, centralization of pricing policy empowers the sales force to be more responsive in difficult negotiation.

Communicating Value

Even when price structures reflect value and the pricing process forces customers to make price/value trade-offs, value based pricing will have limited success unless the company's marketing program effectively communicates the value. Buyers who are ignorant of the monetary value
of a firm's product and service differentiation generally tend to underestimate it.

The purpose of value communication is to raise uninformed buyers' willingness to pay to a level comparable to that of well-- informed buyers.
Value quantification is a good sales tool when buyers are facing extreme cost pressures and are, therefore, very focused on getting the most for their money. A packaged-goods manufacturer quantified the value to retailers of its product's fast turnover, thus justifying its higher wholesale price. A telecom company quantified the value of its superior
reliability by estimating the revenue loss to customers of interruptions in their data lines.
It's harder to communicate value when products are sold through distribution channels, unless the channel is willing and able to do the task. Otherwise, the seller's only direct contact with the buyer may be via a short, generic advertisement or the external information on the packaging. In such cases, value communication is more likely to be suggestive rather than precisely quantified.

Some end benefits resulting from the purchase or use of a product aren't readily quantifiable. Relating the purchase and use of the product to qualitative benefits can nonetheless effectively
influence customers' willingness to pay.

Keys to Success

Successful pricing depends on much more than simply selecting the right price level. Even when the level of price is justified by the value delivered, other elements of pricing strategy can undermine its viability. If price metrics don't track value, a significant share of customers will object and refuse to pay the price. It would be wrong to lower the price across the board, however, because many other customers may find the price totally justified by value received.

The challenge is to find a metric that tracks with differences in value or a fence that enables price discounts to stay targeted where needed to make the sale. If customers are always looking for discounts and withholding purchases until they get them, the problem may not be that the price is too high. It may be that customers have learned that price resistance is rewarded. The pricer's challenge, then, is not to figure out how much to discount; it's to reestablish price integrity.

If customers want a company's superior product or service, but consider the price premium too large, the problem may be one of customer perception rather than of economic reality.

The pricer's challenge then is to coordinate the company's advertising, sales, and distribution network to justify the price.
Although each of these appears as price resistance, changing price is not the most profitable solution for any of them. Successful pricing involves developing processes, structures, and communications that make value-based prices acceptable.