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
1 comment:
I'm not sure that we have ever seen a pricing environment that it is this volatile. Just six months ago a number of firms were pushing - and getting - price increases. Now some of those same firms have seen demand crater and severe downward pressure on prices.
The key in these times is to stick to fundamentals. Here are a few of the points that companies have to stay focused on.
1. Recognize that a significant amount of demand is sidelined right now - and no amount of price cutting is going to bring it back. Those price cuts will, however, devalue your remaining book of business.
2. Manage by policy, not exception. If you need to make price adjustments focus on maintaining the integrity of your price lists. Ad-hoc reaction to the accounts that yell the loudest will undermine your ability to capitalize as pricing power begins to return.
3. Fast forward to the future and "review" every pricing decision that you are considering making. Did (will) those decisions help or hinder your ability to recover quickly when economic conditions eventually turn around?
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