Pricing Products Pricing Strategies 2 2012 Principles of

Pricing Products: Pricing Strategies 2 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective 11

Chapter 11 Outline 11. 1 11. 2 11. 3 11. 4 11. 5 3 New-Product Pricing Strategies Product Mix Pricing Strategies Price-Adjustment Strategies Price Changes Public Policy and Pricing © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

Opening Case Fair. Price Supermarket: Consumers, Link to Low-Priced Products. Initiatives like ‘Stretch Your Dollar” and Everyday Low Price items allow Fair. Price to stay true to its name and offer value for money to its customers 4 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 1 New-Product Pricing Strategies 5 11. 1 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 1 New-Product Pricing Strategies Companies bringing out a new product face the challenge of setting prices for the first time. They can choose between two broad strategies: • SKIM • PENETRATE 6 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 1 New-Product Pricing Strategies New product pricing strategies 7 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 1 New-Product Pricing Strategies Market-skimming pricing 8 • Many companies that invent new products set high initial prices to “skim” revenues layer-by-layer from the market. This is called market-skimming pricing. • Market skimming makes sense only under certain conditions: – The product’s quality and image must support its higher price, and enough buyers must want the product at that price. – The costs of producing a smaller volume cannot be so high that they cancel the advantage of charging more. – Competitors should not be able to enter the market easily and undercut the high price. © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 1 New-Product Pricing Strategies Market-skimming pricing When Apple first introduced the i. Phone, its initial price was as high as $599 per phone. The phones were purchased only by customers who really wanted the sleek new gadget and could afford to pay a high price for it. Six months later, Apple reduced the price to $399 for an 8 GB model and $499 for the 16 GB model to attract new buyers. Within a year, its prices dropped again to $199 and $299 respectively. 9 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 1 New-Product Pricing Strategies Market-penetration pricing • Rather than setting a high price to skim off small but profitable market segments, some companies use market-penetration pricing. • They set a low initial price in order to penetrate the market quickly and deeply—to attract a large number of buyers quickly and win a large market share. 10 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 1 New-Product Pricing Strategies Market-penetration pricing To lure the famously frugal Chinese customers, IKEA slashed its prices. The strategy worked. Weekend crowds at its Beijing store are so big that employees need to use megaphones to keep them under control. 11 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 1 New-Product Pricing Strategies Market-penetration pricing Low initial prices help the company to attract a large number of buyers quickly and win a large market share. In Singapore, QB House met with so much success that it has attracted copycats. 12 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 1 New-Product Pricing Strategies 13 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 2 Product Mix Pricing Strategies 11. 2 14 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 2 Product Mix Pricing Strategies 15 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 2 Product Mix Pricing Strategies 16 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 2 Product Mix Pricing Strategies 17 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 2 Product Mix Pricing Strategies Product line pricing Companies usually develop product lines rather than single products. In product line pricing, management must decide on the price steps to set between the various products in a line. • Product line pricing takes into account the cost difference between products in the line, customer evaluation of their features, and competitors’ prices • 18 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 2 Product Mix Pricing Strategies Optional product pricing • Many companies use optional product pricing—offering to sell optional or accessory products along with their main product. • Pricing these options is a sticky problem. The company has to decide which items to include in the base price and which to offer as options 19 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 2 Product Mix Pricing Strategies Optional product pricing Tune Hotels adopts an optional-product pricing by charging guests for add-ons that they desire. These add-ons include air-conditioning, towel and toiletries kit, and television access. 20 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 2 Product Mix Pricing Strategies Captive product pricing • Companies that make products that must be used along with a main product are using captive product pricing. Producers of the main products often price them low and set high markups on the supplies. • Two-part pricing is where the price is broken into • Fixed fee • Variable usage fee 21 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 2 Product Mix Pricing Strategies Two part pricing Two-part pricing – Theme parks such as universal Studios charge a fixed fee for entrance and a variable usage fee for food and activities such as wall climbing. 22 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 2 Product Mix Pricing Strategies By-product pricing Using by-product pricing, a company will seek a market for byproducts and should accept any price that covers more than the cost of storing and delivering them. • By-products may even turn out to be profitable. • 23 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 2 Product Mix Pricing Strategies Product bundle pricing • Using product bundle pricing, sellers often combine several of their products and offer the bundle at a reduced price. • Price bundling can promote the sales of products consumers might not otherwise buy, but the combined price must be low enough to get them to buy the bundle. 24 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 2 Product Mix Pricing Strategies Product bundle pricing Telecommunication companies, such as Sing. Tel in Singapore, offer bundle pricing by giving discounted rates when customers subscribe to several of its services—mobile phone, cable, and Internet connections. 25 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies 11. 3 26 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Discount and allowance pricing Segmented pricing Psychological pricing Promotional pricing Geographic pricing 27 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective Dynamic pricing International pricing

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies 28 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Discounts and Allowances: Discounts • Most companies adjust their basic price to reward customers for certain responses, such as early payment of bills, volume purchases, and off-season buying. • The many forms of discounts include a cash discount, a price reduction to buyers who pay their bills promptly. A typical example is “ 2/10, net 30, ” which means that although payment is due within 30 days, the buyer can deduct 2 percent if the bill is paid within 10 days. 29 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Discounts and Allowances: Discounts • A quantity discount is a price reduction to buyers who buy large volumes. • A functional discount (trade discount) is offered by the seller to trade-channel members who perform certain functions, such as selling, storing, and record keeping. • A seasonal discount is a price reduction to buyers who buy merchandise or services out of season 30 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Discounts and Allowances: Allowances • Allowances are another type of reduction from list price. • Trade-in allowances are price reductions given for turning in an old item when buying a new one. • Promotional allowances are payments or price reductions to reward dealers for participating in advertising and sales support programs 31 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Trade-in allowances are common in the telecommunications industry to encourage customers to upgrade their handsets as well as switch to new services. 32 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Segmented pricing • Companies will often adjust their basic prices to allow for differences in customers, products, and locations. • In segmented pricing, the company sells a product or service at two or more prices, even though the difference in price is not based on differences in costs 33 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies 4 types of Segmented pricing • Under customer-segment pricing, different customers pay different prices for the same product or service. Eg theme park, TGV • Under product-form pricing, different versions of the product are priced differently but not according to differences in their costs. • Under location pricing, a company charges different prices for different locations, even though the cost of offering each location is the same. Fees foreign students. • Using time-based pricing, a firm varies its prices by the season, the month, the day, and even the hour. Eg hotel 34 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Product-form pricing Evian water in a 1 -liter bottle might cost you 5 cents an ounce at your local supermarket, whereas the same water might run $2. 28 an ounce when sold in 5 -ounce aerosol cans as Evian Brumisateur Mineral Water Spray moisturizer. (www. evian. com) 35 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Psychological pricing • Price says something about the product. Many consumers use price to judge quality. • In using psychological pricing, sellers consider the psychology of prices, not simply the economics. 36 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Psychological pricing What do the prices marked on this tag suggest about the product and buying solution? 37 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Reference pricing • Another aspect of psychological pricing is reference prices—prices that buyers carry in their minds and refer to when looking at a given product. • The reference price might be formed by noting current prices, remembering past prices, or assessing the buying situation. 38 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Reference pricing • Sellers can influence or use these consumers’ reference prices when setting price. • For most purchases, consumers don’t have all the skill or information they need to figure out whether they are paying a good price. They may rely on certain cues that signal whether a price is high or low. • Even small differences in price can signal product differences. 39 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Reference pricing “ 8” is an auspicious number to the Chinese. It sounds like prosperity. Hence, set dinners are priced at $288, $388, $888 to suggest good fortune for diners. 40 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Promotional pricing 41 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Promotional pricing • With promotional pricing, companies will temporarily price their products below list price and sometimes even below cost to create buying excitement and urgency. 42 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Promotional pricing • Promotional pricing takes several forms: • The seller may simply offer discounts from normal prices to increase sales and reduce inventories. • Sellers will also use special-event pricing in certain seasons to draw more customers. • Manufacturers sometimes offer cash rebates to consumers who buy the product from dealers within a specified time. • Some manufacturers offer low-interest financing, longer warranties, or free maintenance to reduce the consumer’s “price. ” 43 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Special-event pricing When the new school year is about to start, retailers will begin promoting school shoes, socks, and school bags. 44 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Adverse effects of promotional pricing • Promotional pricing can have adverse effects. If used too frequently and copied by competitors, price promotions can create “deal-prone” customers who wait until brands go on sale before buying them. – Constantly reduced prices can erode a brand’s value in the eyes of customers. – Marketers sometimes use price promotions as a quick fix instead of sweating through the difficult process of developing effective longer-term strategies for building their brands. – 45 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Adverse effects of promotional pricing • Promotional pricing can be an effective means of generating sales in certain circumstances, but it can be damaging for other companies if used too often. 46 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Geographic pricing • A company also must decide how to price its products for customers located in different parts of the country or world. • FOB Origin • Uniform delivered • Zone • Basing point • Freight absorption 47 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Geographic pricing • FOB-origin pricing is a practice that means the goods are placed free on board (hence, FOB) a carrier. At that point the title and responsibility pass to the customer, who pays the freight from the factory to the destination. • Uniform-delivered pricing is the opposite of FOB pricing. Here, the company charges the same price plus freight to all customers, regardless of their location. The freight charge is set at the average freight cost. 48 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Geographic pricing • Zone pricing falls between FOB-origin pricing and uniformdelivered pricing. The company sets up two or more zones. All customers within a given zone pay a single total price; the more distant the zone, the higher the price. • Using basing-point pricing, the seller selects a given city as a “basing point” and charges all customers the freight cost from that city to the customer location, regardless of the city from which the goods are actually shipped. 49 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Geographic pricing • The seller who is anxious to do business with a certain customer or geographical area might use freight-absorption pricing. Using this strategy, the seller absorbs all or part of the actual freight charges in order to get the desired business. 50 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Dynamic pricing • Dynamic pricing offers many advantages for marketers. • Internet sellers can mine their databases to gauge a specific shopper’s desires, measure his or her means, and instantaneously tailor products to fit that shopper’s behavior, and price products accordingly. • Buyers also benefit from the Web and dynamic pricing. 51 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies Dynamic pricing Buyers benefit from the Web and dynamic pricing. Sites like Yahoo! Shopping give instant product and price comparisons from thousands of vendors, arming customers with price information they need to get the lowest prices. (www. shopping. yahoo. com) 52 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies International pricing 53 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies International pricing • Companies that market their products internationally must decide what prices to charge in the different countries in which they operate. • In some cases, a company can set a uniform worldwide price. However, most companies adjust their prices to reflect local market conditions and cost considerations. 54 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies International pricing • The price that a company should charge in a specific country depends on many factors, including economic conditions, competitive situations, laws and regulations, and development of the wholesaling and retailing system 55 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 3 Price-Adjustment Strategies International pricing Smart pricing plays a key role in Dell’s marketing in China and other emerging markets 56 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 4 Price Changes 11. 4 57 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 4 Price Changes Companies often face situations in which they must initiate price changes or respond to price changes by competitors 58 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 4 Price Changes Price Cuts Price Increase 59 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 4 Price Changes Initiating and reacting to price cuts and price increases 60 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 4 Price Changes Price change reactions-consumers 61 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 4 Price Changes Buyer reaction to price changes • Customers do not always interpret price changes in a straightforward way. • A brand’s price and image are often closely linked. • A price change, especially a drop in price, can adversely affect how consumers view the brand. 62 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 4 Price Changes- customer reaction A brand’s price and image are often closely linked, and a change in price can adversely affect how consumers view the brand. Tiffany found this out when it attempted to broaden its appeal by offering a line of more affordable jewelry. 63 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 4 Price Changes Price change reactions-competitors 64 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 4 Price Changes Responding to Price Changes Price Change • Reduce price to match competition • Maintain price but raise the perceived value • Improve quality and increase price • Launch a lower-price brand 65 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 4 Price Changes Assessing and responding to competitor price changes 66 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 4 Price Changes Responding to Price Changes • If a company decides that effective action can and should be taken, it might make any of four responses. 1. 2. It could reduce its price to match the competitor’s price. The company should try to maintain its quality as it cuts prices. The company might maintain its price but raise the perceived value of its offer. It could improve its communications, stressing the relative quality of its product over that of the lower-price competitor. 67 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 4 Price Changes Responding to Price Changes 3. 4. The company might improve quality and increase price, moving its brand into a higher-price position. The higher quality justifies the higher price that in turn preserves the company’s higher margins. The company might launch a low-price “fighting brand”— adding a lower-price item to the line or creating a separate lower-price brand. This is necessary if the particular market segment being lost is price sensitive and will not respond to arguments of higher quality. 68 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 4 Price Changes Low-price fighting brand In response to the entry of budget airlines such as Air. Asia and Jetstar, Singapore Airlines invested in Tiger Airways. (www. tigerairways. com) 69 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 5 Public Policy and Pricing 11. 5 70 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 5 Public Policy and Pricing • Price competition is a core element of a free-market economy. • In setting prices, companies are usually not free to charge whatever prices they wish. There may be laws governing the rules of fair play in pricing. • In addition, companies must consider broader societal pricing concerns. 71 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 5 Public Policy and Pricing • Figure 11. 4 shows the major public policy issues in pricing. These include potentially damaging pricing practices within a given level of the channel (price-fixing and predatory pricing) and across levels of the channel (retail price maintenance, discriminatory pricing, and deceptive pricing) 72 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 5 Public Policy and Pricing Public policy issues in pricing 73 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 5 Public Policy and Pricing within channels Price Fixing Predatory Pricing 74 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 5 Public Policy and Pricing within channels • In many countries there could be legislation against price-fixing which states that sellers must set prices without talking to competitors. Otherwise, price collusion is suspected. • Sellers are also prohibited from using predatory pricing—selling below cost with the intention of punishing a competitor or gaining higher long-run profits by putting competitors out of business. This protects small sellers from larger ones who might sell items below cost temporarily or in a specific locale to drive them out of business. 75 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 5 Public Policy and Pricing across channel levels Price Discrimination Price Maintenance Deceptive pricing © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective 76

11. 5 Public Policy and Pricing Across Channel Levels • Laws in certain countries seeks to prevent unfair price discrimination by ensuring that sellers offer the same price terms to customers at a given level of trade. • Price discrimination is allowed if the seller can prove that its costs are different when selling to different retailers. Or the seller can discriminate in its pricing if the seller manufactures different qualities of the same product for different retailers. The seller has to prove that these differences are proportional. 77 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 5 Public Policy and Pricing Across Channel Levels • Retail (or resale) price maintenance is prohibited—a manufacturer cannot require dealers to charge a specified retail price for its product. Although the seller can propose a manufacturer’s suggested retail price to dealers, it cannot refuse to sell to a dealer who takes independent pricing action, nor can it punish the dealer by shipping late or denying advertising allowances. 78 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 5 Public Policy and Pricing Across Channel Levels • Deceptive pricing occurs when a seller states prices or price savings that mislead consumers or are not actually available to consumers. This might involve bogus reference or comparison prices, as when a retailer sets artificially high “regular” prices then announces “sale” prices close to its previous everyday prices. • Deceptive pricing issues include scanner fraud and price confusion. The widespread use of scanner-based computer checkouts has led to increasing complaints of retailers overcharging their customers. 79 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 5 Public Policy and Pricing Across Channel Levels • Price confusion results when firms employ pricing methods that make it difficult for consumers to understand just what price they are really paying. • Treating customers fairly and making certain that they fully understand prices and pricing terms is an important part of building strong and lasting customer relationships. 80 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

11. 5 Public Policy and Pricing Deceptive pricing The widespread use of checkout scanners has led to increasing complaints of retailers overcharging their customers. 81 © 2012 Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective

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