MANY OF THE ASSUMPTIONS BUSINESS MAKE ABOUT PRICE ARE TOO SIMPLISTIC This is the first of five articles in THE REPORT this week on the subject pf pricing and looking at strategies for maximising margins in the short, medium and long terms. It seems to be the default position for many businesses that their market […]

MANY OF THE ASSUMPTIONS BUSINESS MAKE ABOUT PRICE ARE TOO SIMPLISTIC This is the first of five articles in THE REPORT this week on the subject pf pricing and looking at strategies for maximising margins in the short, medium and long terms. It seems to be the default position for many businesses that their market is price sensitive, the competitive pricing is essential and that discounting is a fact of life in 2015. These assumptions bring to mind a case study I read recently in which following a month of poor sales a business owner told one of his managers to discount a range of jewellery by 20% to facilitate sales. Miss-understanding the instruction, the manager instead increased to price by 20% – a mistake that lead to a sale of all jewellery almost immediately. This is of course not the only example of where increasing prices actually increases sales.…