Chapter 18 Pricing Concepts

Copyright © 2004 by South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 18 Pricing Concepts


Objectives1. Outline the legal constraints on pricing.2. Identify the major categories of pricing objectives.3. Explain price elasticity and its determinants.4. List the practical problems involved in applying price

theory concepts to actual pricing decisions.5. Explain the major cost-plus approaches to price setting.6. List the chief advantages and shortcomings of using

breakeven analysis in pricing decisions.7. Explain the superiority of modified breakeven analysis

over the basic breakeven model and the role of yield management in pricing decisions.

8. Identify the major pricing challenges facing online and international marketers.


Legal Constraints on Pricing

The Robinson-Patman Act– Known as the Anti-A&P Act.– Was technically an amendment to the Clayton Act.– Prohibits price discrimination in sales to

wholesalers, retailers, and others producers.– Differences in price must reflect cost differentials.– Prohibits selling at unreasonably low prices in

order to drive competitors out of business.



Unfair-Trade Laws– Require sellers to maintain minimum prices for

comparable merchandise. These laws were intended to protect small specialty shops.

– Typical state laws set retail price floors at cost plus some modest markup.



Fair-Trade Laws– Allow manufacturers to stipulate minimum retail

prices.– Assert that a product’s image, determined in part

by its price, is a property right of the manufacturer.– Exclusivity is one method manufacturers use to

maintain minimum price.– Has its roots in the Depression era.– California became the first state to enact fair-trade

legislation.– These laws became invalid with the passage of

the Consumer Goods Pricing Act (1975).


Four Major Groups of Pricing Objectives

1. Profitability2. Volume3. Meeting Competition4. Prestige


Pricing Objectives

High prices for tobacco and alcohol to reduce consumption

Profit maximization

Cost recovery Market

incentives Market

suppression

High-priced luxury autos such as Ferrari and watches by Rolex

Lifestyle Image

Price wars among major airlines Value pricing

Dell’s low-priced PCs increase market share and sales of service

Sales maximization

Market share

Low introductory interest rates on credit cards with high standard rates after 6 months

Profit maximization

Target return

ExamplePurpose

Not-for-profit objectives

Prestige objectives

Meeting competition objectives

Volume objectives

Profitability objectives

Objective


Pricing

For many consumers high price indicates quality.– When viewing Gucci timepieces consumers

see quality.


Profit Impact of Market Strategies (PIMS) Project • Study conducted by the Marketing Science

Institute.• Analyzed more than 2,000 firms.• Revealed that two important factors

influencing profitability were:1. Product quality2. Market share

• The leading brand typically generates after-tax ROI of 18 percent.


Pricing of the Not-For-Profit Organizations Goals

1. Profit maximization.2. Cost recovery. Recover only the actual cost of

operating the unit.3. Market incentives. Lower-than-average pricing

policy or offer a free service.4. Market suppression. High prices help to accomplish

social objectives.


Elasticity in Pricing Strategy

Elasticity is the measure of responsiveness of purchasers and suppliers to price changes.

– The elasticity of demand is the percentage change in the quantity of a good or service demanded the percentage change in its price.

– The price elasticity of supply of a product is the percentage change in the quantity of a good or service supplied the percentage change in its price.


Problems of Price Theory

1. Many firms do not attempt to maximize profits.

2. It is difficult to estimate demand curves.


Cost-Plus Approaches to Price Setting• Cost-plus pricing, the most popular method, uses a base-cost figure per

unit and adds a markup to cover unassigned costs and to provide a profit.• Works well for a business that keeps its costs low.• Two most common cost-oriented pricing procedures:

– Full-cost pricing uses all relevant variable costs and allocates fixed costs. • Allows the marketer to recover all costs plus the amount

added as a profit margin.• The full-cost deficiencies.

– First, there is no consideration of competition or demand for the item.

– Second, any method for allocating overhead is arbitrary.– One way to overcome the arbitrary allocation of fixed expenses is:– 2. Incremental-cost pricing, which attempts to use only

those costs directly attributable to specific output in setting prices.


Breakeven Chart

• Breakeven Analysis is a means of determining the number of goods or services that must be sold at a given price to generate sufficient revenue to cover total costs.

• The breakeven point is the point at which total revenue just equals total cost.


Shortcomings of Breakeven Analysis• First, the model assumes that costs can be

divided into fixed and variable categories.• The model assumes that per-unit variable

costs do not change at different levels of operation.

• Finally, the basic breakeven model does not consider demand.


Pricing Challenges Facing Online and International Marketers

Five pricing objectives:1. Profitability2. Volume3. Meeting competition4. Prestige5. Price stability

Chapter 18 Pricing Concepts

Documents

Transcript of Chapter 18 Pricing Concepts