Chapter 14: Pricing Strategies and Tactics Flashcards
Price
The only element in the marketing mix that generates revenue
The alternative strategies for first-time pricing are:
- Skimming
- Market pricing
- Penetration pricing
Skimming
Achieve the highest possible contribution in a short time period
Market pricing
final customer price is determined based on competitive prices
- Then both production and marketing must be adjusted to the price
Penetration pricing
Offer products at a low price to generate volume sales and achieve high market share, which would compensate for a lower per-unit return.
Export pricing strategies
- Standard worldwide price
- Dual pricing
- Market differentiated pricing
The first two methods are cost-oriented methods that are relatively simple to establish and easy to understand. The third strategy is based on a demand orientation and thus may be more consistent with the marketing concept
Standard worldwide price
- May be the same price regardless of the buyer (if foreign product or foreign marketing costs are negligible)
- May be based on average unit costs of fixed, variable, and export-related costs
Dual pricing
Differentiates between domestic and export prices.
If a cost-based approach is decided upon, the marketer can choose between:
- Cost-plus method
- Direct (marginal) cost method
Cost-plus method
The true cost, fully allocating domestic and foreign costs to the product.
- Although this type of pricing ensures margins, the final price may be so high that the firm’s competitiveness is compromised.
Direct (marginal) cost method
Considers direct costs for producing and selling products for export as the floor beneath which prices cannot be set.
Market-differentiated pricing
Calls for pricing exports according to the dynamic conditions of the marketplace.
- The marginal cost strategy provides a basis, and price may change frequently due to changes in competition, exchange rate changes, or other environmental changes.
Export-related costs include:
- Cost of modifying the product for foreign markets
- Operational costs of export operation
- Cost incurred in entering the foreign markets
Operational costs of export operation
- personnel
- marketing research
- additional shipping and insurance
- communication costs
Costs incurred in entering the foreign markets
- tariff and taxes
- buyer’s credit risks
- political risks
- risks of dealing with foreign currencies
Price escalation
The export-related costs (combined effect of both clear-cut and hidden costs) result in export prices that far exceed domestic prices.
Price escalation can be overcome through:
- Reorganize the channel of distribution
- Adapt the product
- Use new or more economical tariff or tax classifications (In some cases, products may qualify for entry under different categories that have different tariffs)
- Assemble or produce overseas
These methods focus on cost-cutting
Exchange rates movements may harm or benefit the exporter or importer:
- If the price is quoted in the exporter’s currency, the exporter will get exactly the price it wants, but may lose some sales due to lack of customer orientation
- If the exporter needs the sale, the invoice may be in the importer’s currency, and the exchange risk will be burden of the exporter
Strategies used to manage exchange risks
- Forward exchange market
- Currency options market
- Currency futures market
Forward exchange market
The exporter gets a bank to agree to a rate at which it will buy the foreign currency the exporter will receive when the importer makes payment
What is the benefit of forward exchange market?
- A fixed rate allows the exporter to budget effectively without currency fluctuation
- The risk still remains if the exchange rate does not move as anticipated, and the exporter may be worse off than if it had not bought forward
Currency options market (an option)
- An option gives the holder the right to buy or sell foreign currency at a prespecified price on or up to a pre-specified date
- The greater flexibility in the options contract makes it more expensive
What is the difference between the currency options market and the forward market?
that a transaction in the currency options market gives the participant the right to buy or sell, whereas a transaction in the forward market entails a contractual obligation to buy or sell
Currency futures market
- Conceptually similar to forward market
- Minimum transaction sizes are smaller on the futures market
- Forward quotes apply to transactions of $1 million or more, whereas on the futures market transactions will typically be below $100,000.
Exporter strategies under varying currency conditions:
- When the exporter’s domestic currency is weak
- When the exporter’s domestic currency is strong
- Techniques to adjust pricing
When the exporter’s domestic currency is weak
- Stressing the price advantage to customers
- Expanding the scale and scope of the export operation
- Sourcing can be shifted to domestic markets
- The export price can be subjected to full costing
When the exporter’s domestic currency is strong
- Engaging in non-price competition
- Reducing the costs
- Sourcing overseas
- Buying needed services abroad
Techniques to adjust pricing
- Pass-through
- Absorption
Pass-through
customers have to have a high level of preference for the exporter’s product
Absorption
- Increase in the price is absorbed into the margin of the product
- The goal is long-term market-share maintenance in a highly competitive environment
Pricing within the individual market is determined by:
- Corporate objectives
- Costs
- Customer demand
- Market structure and competition
- Environmental constraints
Corporate objectives
- Financial objectives (e.g., return on investment) or market-related objectives (e.g., maintaining or increasing market share)
- Skimming (i.e., if product is an innovation) or penetration (i.e., to make the product more attractive to the buyers and the market less attractive to the competition)
- Price may be used to reflect the positioning decision
Costs
- Procurement, manufacturing, logistics, marketing costs, and overhead
- Used as a basis for price determination
Consumer demand
- Demand sets a price ceiling
- Global marketers must understand the price elasticity of consumer demand
- Many U.S. and European firms have regarded Asia as a place to sell premium products at premium prices
Market structure or competition
- Competition helps set the price within the parameters of cost and demand
- Company may choose to compete directly on price or elect for non-price measures (e.g., quality)
Environmental constraints
- Government may have price control policies
- Consumers want it
- To fight price controls, multinational corporations can demonstrate that they are getting an unacceptable return on investment
Transfer pricing (or intracorporate pricing)
Pricing of sales to members of the extended corporate family
- Can be based on costs or on market prices.
Three philosophies of transfer pricing have emerged over time:
- Cost-based price
- Market-based price
- Arm’s-length price
Cost-based price (direct cost or cost-plus)
it increases the profits of affiliates, and their profitability will eventually benefit the entire corporation.
Market-based price
discounted “dealer” price derived from end-market prices
- It takes local conditions into account
Arm’s-length price
Price that unrelated parties would have reached on the same transaction
- Favored by many constitutes (e.g., governments)
- Becomes difficult when sales to outside parties do not occur in a product category
Transfer pricing can reduce the…
effect of environmental influences in overseas markets
How can transfer pricing reduce the effect of environmental influences in overseas markets?
High transfer prices on goods shipped to a subsidiary and low ones on goods imported from it will result in minimizing the tax liability of a subsidiary operating in a country with a high income tax
Transfer pricing challenges
- Performance measurement
- Taxation
Performance measurement
- To judge a subsidiary’s profit performance as unsatisfactory when it was targeted to be a net source of funds can easily create morale problems
- Solutions: dual bookkeeping or compensation in budgets
Taxation
Sales and transfers of tangible properties and transfers of intangibles (e.g., patent rights and manufacturing know-how) are subject to close tax review and to determinations about the adequacy of compensation received.
In the marketing mix price is the only element that generates revenue, so what are the other elements?
Costs
What does price serve as?
as a means of communication with the buyer by providing a basis for judging the attractiveness of the offer.
What factors bring price down and what brings it up?
Competition will often force prices down, whereas
intracompany financial considerations have an opposite effect.
What do prices along with costs determine?
Prices, along with costs, will determine the long-term viability of the enterprise.
Why should price not be determined in isolation from the other marketing mix elements?
- It may be used effectively in positioning the product in the marketplace
- The feasibility range for price setting established by demand, competition, costs, and legal considerations may be narrow or wide in a given situation (e.g., the pricing of a commodity versus an innovation).
Just like pricing cannot be determined in isolation from the other marketing mix elements, pricing decisions cannot be made in isolation from…
other functions of the firm
Pricing challenges
- pricing for a new market entry
- changing price either as an attack strategy or in response to competitive changes
- multiple-product coordination in cases of related demand
These are technically the same as problems encountered in domestic markets.
How does skimming achieve its goal?
The product has to be unique, and some segments of the market must be willing to pay the high price. As more segments are targeted and more of the product is made available, the price is gradually lowered. The success depends on the ability and speed of reaction.
What does the market pricing approach require?
This approach requires the exporter to have a thorough knowledge of product costs as well as confidence that the product life cycle is long enough to warrant entry into the market. It is a reactive approach and may lead to problems if sales volumes never rise to sufficient levels to produce a satisfactory return.
How did penetration pricing help IKEA?
IKEA found that 70% reduction in average pricing roughly doubled the demand for its product.
What does penetration pricing typically require?
This approach typically requires mass markets, price-sensitive customers, and decreasing production and marketing costs as sales volumes increase. This approach can be used to discourage other marketers from entering the market.
Price changes are called for when…
- a new product is launched
- a change occurs in overall market conditions (such as a change in the value of the billing currency)
- there is a change in the internal situation, such as costs of production
With multiple-product pricing…
the various items in the line may be differentiated by pricing them appropriately to indicate an economy version, a standard version, and a top-of-the-line version.
- One of the products in the line may be priced to protect against competitors or to gain market share from existing competitors. The other items in the line are then expected to make up for the lost contribution of such a “fighting brand.”
What are factors to consider when setting export prices?
- the importance of price in customer decision making (in particular, the ability to pay)
- the strength of perceived price–quality relationships
- potential reactions to marketing-mix manipulation by marketers
- Customers’ demands
Objective of the firm for a particular target market
- profit maximization
- market share
- survival
- percentage return on investment
- various competitive policies such as copying competitors’ prices, following a particular competitor’s prices, or pricing so as to discourage competitors from entering the market.
Where and how decisions are made is also an important part of an exporter’s pricing policy
The degree to which the pricing decision should be localized is a function of competitive conditions and economic conditions, such as inflation
Stages in setting export prices
- Assessment of pricing environments
- Pricing policy selection
- Pricing strategy determination
- Setting of specific price
Assessment of pricing environments
- External
- Internal
External assessment of pricing environment
- Market-related factors
- Industry-related factors