Pricing strategy is a hot topic these days. Over the past 20 years, we have helped many companies develop, refine or transform their pricing strategy, but today we get requests for help more frequently than ever before. So why the surge of interest now?
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty recently announced his desire to commission a Senate Committee into Canadian pricing. There have likely been a number of triggers for his reaction, but J Crew, a specialty apparel retailer, entering Canada at a significant price premium to its US pricing and subsequent reversal I am sure was part of the cause.
It’s no wonder that Fortune 500 Companies are kicking off pricing initiatives at such a tremendous pace. The fruits of their efforts are continuing to make headlines. In last Friday’s Bloomberg’s Business Week there was a prominent article about the gains Goodyear has made by managing mix.
A consultant at Pricing Solutions recently presented some learnings he took away from an IBM conference on the topic of analytics. An important topic was the emerging frontier of using real time data to make real time decisions. From a pricing perspective, how could this level of data analytics move companies forward in their ability to be good value based pricers?
If your segmentation isn’t leading you into a discussion about behaviour, price structure, innovation and offer design, you probably have a large untapped opportunity. Read how segmentation can be the backbone of your pricing strategy.
Competitive pricing is one of the most thrilling and terrifying aspects of pricing – thrilling because it is a high-stakes game, and terrifying because you can get locked into a price war and end up swimming in a sea of red ink.
For many lost deals, price was not the factor; perceived quality was the driving force behind the decision. Collect customer feedback and use lessons learned to refocus your service-delivery model and win more deals.
As commodity costs skyrocket, there has never been a greater need for companies to implement strategic price increases. Unfortunately, many organizations are afflicted with Price Increase Rigor Mortis (PIRM), an insidious disease that paralyzes their ability to raise prices and ravages their bottom line.
If your company’s sales department is in charge of pricing, that’s like putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank!
If your client is sipping champagne when they paid for beer, it's time to establish a pricing strategy.
