Pricing

The Marketing Mix
Marketers have tools at their disposal with which to control their offerings to consumers. These tools are called the "4 P's of Marketing" or the "Tools of Marketing". Specifically, these are

• Price
• Product
• Place (distribution)
• Promotion

With the exception of Price all of the tools are costs. Price is revenues (or sales). We control the formula for the product, its design and purpose. We decide where to sell our product and how to get it to the customer. We also determine how to communicate, advertise and promote our product. Let's discuss Price.

Price
How do you determine the price at which your product will be sold? There are several ways and we can use several formulas to arrive at price. But first, we must understand what the factors are that affect price:

1. Costs to manufacture, transport, insure, etc. These are costs which we will have to pay for and which contribute to the cost of the product. Therefore, we must recoup them in the price of the product.
2. Supply and Demand - The two economic variables which we cannot control. These will affect the amount of product we are able to sell. Our competition can generate inventories and supplies of the same product which will mount if the consumer is unwilling to purchase the product due to a slow economy and the danger of being laid off.
3. Price the customer is willing to pay. If the customer feels that the product is overpriced, he is not willing to pay for it and will look for an alternative product or the product of the competition.
4. Competition's prices and offerings - If the competition is selling at a lower price for comparable products, then the consumer will go there. If the consumer feels that your product has more value or benefits, then the consumer will purchase the your products.
5. Other non-controllable variables - The government can place burdens on the manufacturer with additional taxes, excise taxes, export and import duties, etc. and compliance measures for environmental protection, such as chimney scrubbers, All these things add to costs and make our lives more difficult to make a profit.

Strategies
As entrepreneurs and marketers extraordinaire we have certain goals that we set for ourselves in the management of our business. Those goals have to do with the amount of sales and profits we set for our organization. These goals will impact our price for our product.

1. Survival - Many business owners are satisfied with a minimum profit or breakeven. They are happy with the life style that the company's operations affords them and are not interested in performing better.
2. Maximize Current Profit - This is the strategy of the low cost manufacturer. His costs are low and pricing provides for a good profit.
3. Maximize Current Revenues - The owner is looking to gain market share in dollars. He depends on image and quality pricing. Good quality yields a high price.
4. Maximize Sales Growth - The owner is looking to gain market share in units. The more he sells in units than his competition the greater his market share in units. This does not necessarily mean that he will be profitable or have large profits. He may be selling his product at a low price in order to sell more units.
5. Product Quality Leadership - The owner knows that he has very good quality in the product he created. Therefore, he will charge for the quality.

Sensible Prices
As you probably realize by now, setting prices is not an easy task in view of the competition's offerings and the fact that we need to cover our own costs. We must determine a profit margin that is respectable and acceptable for us and which achieves our goals and objectives as indicated above. However, our pricing cannot be too high or our competition will benefit from this. Our pricing cannot be too low, or we will suffer for it. What we must do is consider the competitor's price, our cost structure, and what the market will bear. We cannot sell anything if the market, that consumer out there, will not see the benefit in the product and pay for it.
Remember, we must be competitive and promote our competitive advantage: quality, convenience, personalization, guarantees and warranties, etc.

The 4 Ps or Tools of Marketing

Marketers have tools at their disposal with which to control their offerings to consumers. These tools are called the "4 P's of Marketing" or the "Tools of Marketing". Specifically, these are

• Price
• Product
• Place (distribution)
• Promotion

 

With the exception of Price all of the tools are costs.

 

 

Price

 

Price is one of the components of the Sales or Revenues formula. Specifically, price per unit is multiplied by the number of units sold [Price x # of units = Sales].

 

But how do we determine the price of our product? We will become acquainted with the costs to manufacture or to acquire or to source our product. We have special design features which we build into our product and we also determine the quality of our product. We may use excellent components in order to make an excellent product. Therefore, we control the design, durability and features of the product and accordingly the costs for the product to arrive at the price the customer will pay for the item. We also have to consider our competition - what are they selling a similar product to ours for? Our formula then will include the cost of the product, a margin for quality, and our profit margin.

 

However, we must not forget that our customers know the value of things (you know that "educated consumer"), and we cannot charge more than what they will pay for it Remember, "it's what the market will bear", you cannot charge more than what the customer is willing to pay.

 

 

Product Design and Features

 

We create the product to meet the unmet needs of the target community, and its design and purpose or use. The culmination of our thoughts and vision is the product we will be selling. We control what the product is, what goes into making the product, whether we will outsource it or manufacture it ourselves, and, most importantly, we decide upon the quality of the product. After all, the higher the quality, the higher the price we can charge.

 

 

Place (Distribution)

 

The way we "get our product to market" (distribution channel) has a further implication upon the cost structure of the product. We can determine whether we will be a direct merchant, charging or not charging for the shipping to the customer, or we may want to use our own fleet of trucks to deliver the product to the retailer or the ultimate consumer.

 

Depending upon the size and durability of the product we may want to employ a wholesaler who will be responsible for the ultimate distribution of the product. Whatever method we decide upon, we must realize that the more middlemen involved in getting our product to market the more costs are involved and the more expensive our product is to the consumer.

 

 

Promotion

 

How we reach our targeted customers to make them aware of our product or location is a consideration of cost and effectiveness. We can take an ad in a regional or local paper; make a 30 sec. or 60 sec. spot for the radio to be delivered by the host live, or tape it to be played on the radio. If we have the money we can also create a commercial video and buy time on a television channel that will reach our market. This is more expensive, although glamerous to have your ad on TV, but the reality of it is, it may not be for the small business.