PRICE IS PART OF A COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED MARKETING STRATEGY – 3 OBSERVATIONS Some business people seem to think that price is a matter to be addressed by bean counters. They set their prices on the basis of: Cost plus pricing – paying no attention to the environment; Target return pricing – paying no attention to […]

PRICE IS PART OF A COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED MARKETING STRATEGY – 3 OBSERVATIONS Some business people seem to think that price is a matter to be addressed by bean counters. They set their prices on the basis of: Cost plus pricing – paying no attention to the environment; Target return pricing – paying no attention to the market; Comparison pricing – paying little attention to inherent value. I would argue that anyone setting prices in this way is short sighted and does not understand pricing anywhere near as well as they should. Certainly, cost plus pricing is useful in determining the minimum price for which a business can afford to sell a product. Certainly, the targeted return is important in setting the minimum price required to adequately reward shareholders. Certainly, no business can afford to ignore the price of directly comparable products if they are to grow market share. However, achieving…