1. Chapter 12: Pricing Strategy for Business Markets PowerPoint by:
Chapter 12:
Pricing Strategy for
Business Markets
PowerPoint by:
Ray A. DeCormier, Ph.D.
Central Ct. State U.

2. Chapter Topics
Understanding how customers value pricing is the essence of the pricing process. Chapter topics include:
The central elements of the pricing process a value-based strategy
How effective new product prices are established and the need to periodically adjust the prices of existing products
How to respond to a price attack by an aggressive competitor
Strategic approaches to competitive bidding

3. CUSTOMER VALUE In B2B marketing, customer value is a cornerstone
CUSTOMER VALUE
In B2B marketing, customer value is a cornerstone
The unifying goal of marketers is to be “better than your very best competitor” in providing value
“You get what you pay for” is what many provide
A better approach: “You get more than what you pay for” by offering lower cost and higher quality

4. What is Customer Value? Benefits – Sacrifice = Value
How do customer’s view value?
Everything costs something (sacrifice)
Everything of value adds something (benefits)
What’s the difference?
Benefits – Sacrifice = Value

5. Differentiating Through value-creation
If relationships are more valuable to customers than price and costs, then marketers need to emphasize unique add-on benefits around:
Building trust
Demonstrating commitment
Being flexible
Initiating joint ventures
Working on developing deeper relationships
These efforts enhance customer value & loyalty.

6. Differentiating Through value-creation
Differentiating Through value-creation
Research suggests that most companies offer similar services, however, the following seem to be more prominent.
1. Service support
2. Personal interactions
3. Supplier know-how
4. Ability to improve customer’s time to market
Moderate differentiating factors include:
1. Product quality
2. Delivery
3. Acquisition and operation costs

7. Setting the Price
This is one of the most difficult issues that face companies: What is the right price to charge?
There is no easy solution or formula for proper pricing.
Pertinent considerations include:
Pricing & profit objectives
Demand determinants
Cost determinants
Competition

8. Key Components of the Price-Setting Decision Process
Key Components of the Price-Setting Decision Process
Fig. 12.1
No easy formula for pricing industrial product or service
Decision is multidimensional
Each interactive variable assumes significance
Set Strategic Pricing Objectives
Estimate Demand and the
Price Elasticity of Demand
Determine Costs and
their Relationship to Volume
Examine Competitors’ Prices and Strategies
Set the Price Level

9. Price Objectives
Pricing decision must be based on marketing and overall corporate objectives.
Marketer starts with principal objectives and adds collateral pricing goals:
Achieving target return on investment.
Achieving market-share goal.
Meeting competition.
Other objectives include competition, channel relationships and product-line considerations.

10. Demand Determinants & Assessing Value
There are a number of issues when considering demand:
Usage and importance of the product/service by various segments
Price Sensitivity (elasticity of demand)
Assessing Value: Competitive Value comparisons
Assume same product by 2 different competitors
Assume: (“A” charges $24 ; “B” charges $20);
Why might a buyer prefer “A” over “B”?
Could it be that buyer prefers “A” more than “B” because “A’s” total offering provides more value than “B”?

11. Assessing Value
Economic Value: Represents cost saving and/or revenue gains when purchasing a product (instead of next best alternative)
Commodity Value: Value customers assign to features that resembles competitive offerings
Differentiation Value: Represents the value of features that are unique and different from competitors

12. Define the key market segments
Fig A Value-Based Approach for Pricing
Define the key market segments
Isolate the most significant drivers of value
in customers’ business
Quantify the impact of your product or service
on each value driver in customers’ business
Estimate the incremental value created by your product
or service, particularly for those features that are
unique and different from competitors’ offerings
Develop pricing strategy and marketing plan
SOURCE: Adapted from Gerald E. Smith and Thomas T. Nagle, “How Much Are Customers Willing to Pay,”
Marketing Research 14 (winter 2002): pp

13. Value Drivers ref. Fig. 12.3
Goal is to identify significant drivers of value
Cost Drivers: Create value by economic savings
Example: Machine can process more widgets/hr. with less electricity and labor costs
Revenue Drivers: Add incremental value by facilitating revenue or margin requirements
Example: Packaging is more attractive thus increasing sales

14. Value Based approach ref. fig. 12.3
Quantify impact of firms product/service on customer’s business model
Does it make or save money? How much?
Compare firm’s product/service to next best alternative (competitor’s product/service)
Isolate unique features that differ from competitor
Do those features provide value that customer cannot get elsewhere?
How much value does it create?

15. Value Based approach: ref. fig. 12.3
Understand how customer uses the product and how much value will s/he realize
Set the price & develop a responsive marketing strategy
BENEFIT: Business marketer can gain a competitive advantage by employing a value based approach and by developing tools to document and communicate their unique value to customers.

16. Elasticity Varies by Segments
Price elasticity measures how sensitive customers are to price changes.
Price elasticity of demand refers to rate of percentage change in quantity demanded to percentage change in price.

17. Elasticity of Demand Elastic Demand
Chapter 17
Elasticity of Demand
Elastic Demand
Consumers buy more or less of a product when the price changes
Inelastic Demand
An increase or decrease in price will not significantly affect demand
Notes:
Elasticity of demand can be measured by this formula: Elasticity (E) = percentage change in quantity demanded percentage change in price
If E is greater than 1, demand is elastic. If E is less than 1, demand is inelastic. If E is equal to 1, demand is unitary.
Unitary Elasticity
An increase in sales exactly offsets a decrease in prices, and revenue is unchanged

18. Inelastic Demand Curve
Chapter 17
Elasticity of Demand
Elastic Demand Curve D
Quantity
Price D
Quantity
Price
Inelastic Demand Curve
Notes:
Exhibit 17.5 (a) shows a very elastic demand curve. Decreasing the price of the good increases sales and revenue substantially.
Exhibit 17.5 (b) shows a completely inelastic demand curve. Decreasing the price did not cause a change in demand. For example, a state inspection fee price change decrease did not result in more used car purchases because state inspection fees are required by law, thus demand is completely inelastic. Conversely, the price of inspection could double without changing demand.
Exhibit 17.6 in the text presents the demand curve for a suntan lotion when the price drops. E is greater than 1, and demand is elastic, indicating an increase in demand.

19. Elasticity of Demand Price Goes... Revenue Goes... Demand is... Down
Chapter 17
Elasticity of Demand
Price Goes...
Revenue Goes...
Demand is...
Down Up
Elastic
Inelastic
Up or Down
Stays the Same
Unitary Elasticity
Notes:
If price goes down and revenue goes up, demand is elastic.
If price goes down and revenue goes down, demand is inelastic.
If price goes up and revenue goes up, demand is inelastic.
If price goes up and revenue goes down, demand is elastic.
If price goes up or down and revenue stays the same, elasticity is unitary.

20. Other Factors
Satisfied customers are less price sensitive therefore one strategy is to make our customers very satisfied so price isn’t as much of a determinant.
Switching costs is a consideration depending upon products. The more sophisticated and unique the product is, and the more vested interest (costs) in it is, the more apt for the customer to not switch.

21. Other Factors
End Use: How important is the product as in input into the total cost of the end product?
If cost is insignificant, then demand is inelastic.
End-Market Focus: Since demand for many industrial products is derived from the demand for the product of which they are a part, STRONG end user focus is needed.

22. Derived Demand
By understanding trends such as up or down markets, up or down sectors, and knowing that not all segments go up or down at one time, if one is able to plan for a two-tiered market focus, which takes advantage of the market variability…
This strategy increases the chances for success.

23. Value-Based Segmentation
Some industrial product may serve different purposes for different markets.
Each segment may value the product differently.
By identifying applications where the firm has a clear advantage, and by understanding the value of it to each segment, marketer may be able to administer price differentiation in each segment.

24. Target Pricing & Costing
Many companies base price off of costs
Problem: Method is internally driven, not market driven
A better approach is to use Target Pricing
It starts by examining and segmenting the market
Determine what type, quality and attributes each segment wants at a pre-determined target price
Understand the perception of value to the target selling price
Then calculate costs considering margins

25. Cost Concept Analysis
Direct Traceable or Attributable Costs: All costs, fixed or variable, that are solely incurred for a particular product, territory, or customer (e.g., raw materials)
Indirect Traceable Costs: All costs, fixed or variable, that can be traced to a particular product, customer or territory (e.g., general plant overhead)
General Costs: Costs that support a number of activities not directly related to a particular product (e.g., administrative overhead, R&D)

26. Cost Classification System Goals
Target pricing forces marketers to understand what buyers want and are willing to pay.
Target costing forces companies to understand their cost structure by direct/indirect costs, fixed/variable costs, and their contribution margins.
Combining target pricing and target costing says that instead of using cost-control techniques, a better approach is to compute the total costs that must not be exceeded, allowing for acceptable margins.

27. Understanding Costs Helps to Understand Pricing
When adding or deleting a line, successful marketers know exactly what price points can weaken or break the competition.
What proportion of cost is raw material or component parts?
At different levels of product, how does cost vary?
At what production levels can economies of scale be expected?
Does our firm enjoy cost advantages over competition?
How does the “experience effect” impact our cost projections?

28. Competition Competition establishes an upper limit on price.
Competition
Competition establishes an upper limit on price.
Price is only a component of the cost/benefit equation.
There are many ways to have a differential advantage other than price: advanced features, technical expertise, timely delivery and product reliability (zero defects) to name a few.
Service and support also have a differentiating affect.

29. Hyper-Competitive Situations
In some industries rivals are fairly stable and the competitive strategy is “don’t rock the boat.”
Other industries, especially high-tech or high profit industries, the competitive environment is wrought with short-term and temporary advantages. These are hypercompetitive environments with strong rivalries.
The strategy to succeed is to create a temporary advantage and destroy rival advantages by constantly disrupting market equilibrium with new products, lower prices, and strategic relationships.

30. Competitive Responses
In analyzing competitors’ responses to any strategic move, a good idea is to consider direct competitors and substitute their actions from a cost perspective.
For example, one idea is to view competition as Followers vs. Pioneers. More often, pioneers face higher entry costs than followers for various reasons.

31. Followers vs. Pioneers
By failing to recognize potential cost advantages of late entrants, the business marketer can dramatically overstate costs differences between earlier and later entrants. What might be the result of this mistake?

32. Followers vs. Pioneers

33. Pricing Strategies 3 Major Pricing Strategies Follow the Crowd
Pricing Strategies
3 Major Pricing Strategies
Follow the Crowd
Price Skimming
Penetration Pricing

34. Price Skimming Price Skimming is charging a high initial price
Price Skimming
Price Skimming is charging a high initial price
Price Skimming:
Appropriate for distinctly new products
Provides the firm with opportunity to profitably reach market segments not sensitive to high initial price
Enables marketer to capture early profits
Enables innovator to recover high R&D costs more quickly
Strategy: As the product goes through its product life cycle, the strategy is to lower the price in line with production and demand capacity.

35. Penetration Pricing
Penetration Pricing is charging a very low initial price.
Penetration Pricing is appropriate when there is:
High price elasticity of demand
Strong threat of imminent competition
Opportunity for substantial production cost reduction as volume expands

36. Price Discrimination The Robinson-Patman Act of 1936:
Chapter 18
Price Discrimination
The Robinson-Patman Act of 1936:
“…holds that it is unlawful to ‘discriminate’ in price between different purchasers of commodities of like grade and quality…where the effect of such discrimination may be substantially to lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly, or to injure, destroy or prevent competition..”
Notes:
Six elements are needed for a violation of the Robinson-Patman Act to occur:
There must be price discrimination; that is the seller must charge different prices to different customers for the same product.
The transaction must occur in interstate commerce.
The seller must discriminate by price among two or more purchasers within a reasonably short time.
The products sold must be commodities or other tangible goods.
The products sold must be of like grade and quality.
There must be significant competitive injury.

37. Evaluating a Competitive Threat
When a PRICE WAR occurs, what should you do?
Should you:
Lower your price?
Ignore it?
Raise it?
That is what a competitive threat is all about.

38. Evaluating A Competitive Threat
Competitive price or “low cost” product entry
If you respond, is competition willing and able to reestablish the price difference?
Is your position in other markets at risk?
Respond
Accommodate or Ignore
Is there a response that would cost less than the preventable sales lost? No No
Yes No
Yes
Does the value of the markets at risk justify the cost of response?
Yes No
Will the multiple responses required to match a competitions cost less than the preventable sales loss? No
Yes
Yes
Respond
Respond
Source: Figure from “How to Manage an Aggressive Competitor” by George E. Cressman, Jr. and
Thomas T. Nagle from BUSINESS HORIZONS 45 (March-April 2002): p. 25. Reprinted with permission from Elsevier.

39. Evaluating a Competitive Threat
Evaluating a Competitive Threat
Before responding, ask: “Do the benefits justify the costs?”
If responding to a price change is less costly than losing a sale, then do it.
If competitor threat only affects a small segment, the revenues lost from ignoring it may be so small that it is not worth it.
In other words, “Why lower the price to lose revenue from other segments too?”

40. Evaluating a Competitive Threat
2. If you respond to the threat, is the competitor willing to merely reduce price again to restore the price difference?
Matching a price cut is ineffective if the competitor will merely lower the price again.
Therefore, try to understand what the competitor is trying to do.
Do they want % share of market?
Do they just want to clear inventory?
Do they just want to recoup some of their investment quickly?

41. Evaluating a Competitive Threat
3. Will the multiple responses that may be required still cost less than the avoidable sales loss?
One consideration is the industry. In high- capital and labor-intensive industries, it is better to cut the prices only to the point of variable cost levels.
The objective is to try to capture some contribution margin, if possible.
Strategy: Build into your products high switching costs.

42. Evaluating a Competitive Threat
Evaluating a Competitive Threat
4. Is your position in other markets at risk if the competitor increases their % share of market? Strategically, does the value of all the markets that are at risk justify the cost of responding to a price war? Before responding, make sure you understand all of the ramifications, i.e., lost markets, gained markets, and even bankruptcy.

43. Competitive Bidding Certain groups do bidding Governments
Competitive Bidding
Certain groups do bidding
Governments
Large companies (using preferred suppliers) bid for:
a. Non-standard material
b. Complex designs and difficult manufacturing methods

44. Types of Bidding
Closed bidding: Suppliers submit a written bid on a specific contract and all bids are opened simultaneously and often job goes to lowest bidder…
On-line sealed bids: on-line auctions
Open bidding: more informal.
When it is hard rigidly define requirements
Prices may be negotiated.
Prices may be negotiated

45. Online Open Bid Format Bidding is costly and time consuming.
Bidding is costly and time consuming.
Simultaneous bids often used.
All participants see the bids.
Goal: push price down.
Can damage supplier-customer relationships

46. Strategies of Competitive Bidding
Choose bid opportunities with care
Find contracts that offer the most promise
Remember that the low bidder may be able
to secure much more business that is profitable
over the longer term
How likely will follow-on business occur???