The difference 38 hours can make to your pricing, profit and future!

EPP's Certified Pricing Manager programme is not only a pricing education, it is a one-of-a-kind learning and networking experience dedicated to all aspects of building your pricing maturity in the 21st century.

Going further and deeper than any other pricing course on the market today, the CPM programme offers you a 1 week, intensive, face to face training which equips you with the insights, tools and techniques required to realise the full potential of your pricing efforts at your current pricing maturity level.

By working side-by-side with pricing peers from different industries, you learn through a unique blend of expert knowledge transfer and hands-on best practice sharing.  You get inspired!

Certification is not for the faint hearted - it is awarded after the combination of 38 hours of training plus the completion of a successful business project rendering a min 30K margin improvement.

The programme:

The programme is designed around the organisational and personal skills needed to increase the pricing capabilities in the organisation, regardless of industry.

Four levels of pricing maturity have been identified by the EPP and the CPM programme is essentially based on helping practitioners get grips on two of these, Level 2 and Level 3.  Read all about the four levels in our recent white paper: Crossing the Pricing Chasm : A guide to Pricing Maturity Development

CPM Level 2: Taking Transactional Control (03-07 Nov)

In order to qualify to join CPM® Level 2 certification, a minimum of 6 months of relevant experience in pricing analytics, cost price analytics, reporting, price setting, and margin management is necessary.

more information here

CPM Level 3: Full Value Capturing (19-23 Jan 2015)

CPM® Level 3 certification requires a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience in value based pricing, pricing research, TCO, economic value calculation, people management, and fruitful cooperation with marketing/sales/finance.

more information here

Note: CPM can also be run as a customised, in-company training.

Call Nicolene Barnard for more information on +32 51 32 03 72, or email nicolene.barnard@pricingplatform.eu

The Certified Pricing Manager programme: developing the skills and talent of the new generation of European pricing leaders. Join us in November 2014 or January 2015 and give your company, and your career a boost.

Amazon’s Android Appstore app Pricing Strategy Revealed

With Amazon’s Android Appstore expected to launch later this month, the internet retailer is busy organising its store to soon offer applications to run on the devices it sells.

Today, a number of Android applications and their prices have leaked out after AndroidNews.de stumbled upon a placeholder page on the Amazon website. Whilst the retail giant will require Android users to download a third-party application to download the apps, Amazon will showcase apps on its product pages, listing them as recommended items as they would any other item.

The page was available at amazon.com/apps but has since been removed. Luckily, a number of screenshots were captured, showing what apps are likely to be available at launch and how much they will cost:

Amazon has already secured the exclusive launch of the next game from the incredibly popular Angry Birds franchise, Angry Birds Rio. With 48 other applications listed on the website, AndroidNews.de compared them and their Android Market counterparts, finding that Amazon has secured four other exclusive titles, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Force Recon.

The retailer has also priced 14 apps lower than the prices developers are charging for the same apps on Google’s marketplace. The strategy demonstrates how Amazon hopes to compete with Google – requiring developers to state the recommended retail price of their apps, changing its pricing should it see fit. Developers don’t miss out – if Amazon lowers the price of an app below the recommended price, they will still receive a share of the price they originally set.

Amazon has declined to comment on when its Appstore will launch – we think it won’t be too long until it does.

Source: The Next Web, Matt Brian

The Price is Complicated

Pricing is not about one number. By determining your worth and building value perception around that, your pricing strategy can strengthen brand perception and differentiation.

Setting the right price points is no easy task. In today’s post-recessionary economy, product pricing is particularly tricky because consumers’ perception of value is confounding and seems to shift constantly. People will camp out overnight for the chance to buy a $499 iPad, but you can’t seem to spark any interest in a $4.99 burger combo.

You may not be able to predict how consumers will behave, but you can use pricing to your advantage. The solution lies in taking a strategic approach to pricing decisions. But even before we get into strategy, I need to challenge some conventional wisdom about setting prices.

Many chains use a cost-plus approach. That is, prices are based on food costs plus a labor charge and an overhead factor. The problem with cost-plus pricing is that it is a short-term, inside-out approach. Not only does it leave you vulnerable to variability in commodities pricing, but it also doesn’t reflect the full margin potential of your offerings. Customers may be willing to pay more for some items, but cost-plus pricing essentially treats all products the same. Pricing should be decided from the outside in.

Given Subway’s success with its $5 Footlong promotion, you may think you need to match or beat it, or find your own magic price point. But trying to find that magic number is like searching for the Holy Grail—it’s likely a fruitless and frustrating endeavor, because pricing isn’t about one number. Instead of trying to figure out the threshold that customers won’t give you permission to exceed, determine what your offering is worth and use your pricing strategy to set customers’ value perceptions accordingly.

There is no single price or pricing strategy that works for every chain. Audits and analyses of competitor’s pricing are crucial inputs to your price setting, but the point is not to simply copy other’s approaches. You should approach pricing as thoughtfully and strategically as your menu. ”I say we give up those antiquated approaches and adopt some new ways of thinking about pricing. Price should be considered a touch point through which you express your brand and customers experience it. Pricing strategy should be aligned with your brand strategy. That is, you should use your brand image and positioning to drive price decisions—and in turn, use pricing to strengthen your competitive advantage and brand differentiation. Here are some ways to set your pricing strategy.

Reinforce your brand identity. Use price to communicate what your brand stands for. For example, if your brand is about 1950s-style fast food, then price your offerings with that style. You probably can’t charge ’50s prices, but you can price your offering for an even dollar amount instead of using today’s 99-cent convention—and offer classic combos for classic prices. If your brand is about offering healthy alternatives, ensure your healthier offerings are priced lower than the more mainstream ones—and definitely don’t charge more for substituting a healthy ingredient like soy milk or fat-free cheese.

Be clear about your competitive positioning. Don’t be afraid to charge more if you’re competing on quality, exclusivity, or a superior experience. Starbucks’ recent 9 percent same-store sales increase results prove that customers are willing to pay a price premium even in this economy. On the other hand, if you’re a low-price player, keep your prices low across the board—even one or two higher-priced products can detract from your position. Consider making a claim like “everything under $1.99 every day” and don’t offer combos that add higher price points to your menuboard.

Vary price to emphasize brand differentiation and value. Variable pricing draws attention to the value you offer or to the one dimension that most meaningfully differentiates you from competitors. If your burgers are your best product, pricing them higher than other menu items communicates their uniqueness. If special fries are your most popular menu item, sell all of your products with a side of fries and set your prices accordingly.

Vary price to target customer segments. You can also use variable pricing to appeal to certain customer segments. If you want to attract families, price your offerings to favor quantities and selections appropriate for family purchases. If dine-in customers are more desirable than take-out, consider a separate menu with special prices (and perhaps special products) for them. If you want to grow your breakfast daypart, accept a lower margin for those items.

Anchor your pricing. Price anchoring uses cues to set the customer’s expectations. Those TV infomercials that claim their new gizmo is “a $50 value that’s available today for only $19.99” use price anchoring to increase the perceived value of their offering. Wegman’s grocery stores show competitors’ prices on their shelves to prove their items are competitively priced. And car dealerships don’t display that $50,000 fully loaded model only to encourage customers to add on expensive options—they also use it to make customers feel like they’re getting a deal if they walk away with a $35,000 version. You can use similar approaches to communicate the perceived value of your menu items.

Pricing is too important to be made as an arbitrary decision. And just because consumers have cut back on spending doesn’t mean pricing is simply a game of “how low can you go.” With a strategic approach, you can use price as a helpful tool in your brand-building toolbox.

Source: QSRmagazine.com - Denise Lee Yohn

Verizon Trying to Leverage iPad and Testing New Pricing Strategies

On Wednesday, Verizon demonstrated the power of the app, announcing plans to make it generally available by next year. If this happens, the carrier’s FiOS TV service will be available on the iPad, making the TV experience as mobile as the tablet device from Apple.

According to a Daily Tech piece highlighted that the biggest obstacle for Verizon right now is getting content providers on board. Verizon doesn’t plan to offer the app until it has a powerful portfolio of content providers agreeing to the benefits of its service.

Once the new service is in place, Verizon subscribers will be able to rent or buy movies and content through the company’s website or a set-top box. They can also download and watch the content on as many as five PCs and/or mobile devices such as the Droid X, Droid 2, BlackBerry Stor, and Windows Mobile 6.5 devices. While we wait out the news on the iPad app, Verizon has announced a carrier test of a $99 unlimited everything plan. The plan is designed to directly compete with Sprint’s Simply Everything plan, also priced at $99 per month.

According to a Verizon spokesperson, the limited-time promotion will be available only on single lines. Once tiered data plans are rolled out, don’t expect the unlimited aspect of the deal to stick around.

Regardless of the outcome, the fact that Verizon is testing options means that it is experimenting with some changes to its pricing strategies. The company has often been branded as the “luxury mobile provider” compared to players like T-Mobile, which offers an unlimited everything plan on its no-contract Even More Plus for $79.99 per month.Verizon also appears worried about competition from discount carriers like MetroPCS, Cricket and Boost as the company is testing a $50 unlimited prepaid plan in the Southeast.

In other Verizon news, the company is making headway in cloud computing for credit card transactions. Verizon Computing as a Service, or CaaS, the company's cloud computing solution delivered from Verizon cloud centers in the U.S. and Europe, is the first cloud-based solution to successfully complete the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard audit for storing, processing and transmitting credit card information.

Source: TMCnet.com

Pricing Strategies for your travel and tourism products.

Do you have a pricing strategy for your travel products? I believe that the pricing of your travel products is both an art and a science.

This Spring, I read Smart Pricing by Jagmohan Raju and Z. John Zhang. It is an interesting book that covers multiple pricing strategies for businesses. The book got me thinking about how travel businesses should price their products and how I priced travel products in the former travel businesses I operated and the strategies I used to successfully build two travel companies.

I have recently published a marketing strategy I developed called the Automated-Booking Markup Strategy, that combines a proven website marketing tactic with a pricing strategy. I discuss this strategy at the end of the article.

Zhang says, “that when it comes to pricing, some estimated that only 8% of American businesses can be considered sophisticated players.” So most businesses don’t have a pricing strategy for their products.

There are three types of traditional pricing strategies in business. Cost + pricing, competition-based pricing, and consumer-based pricing.

In summary; cost + pricing takes the average cost of the product then adds a markup, competition-based pricing confirms the prices of its competitors, then sets the price of the product at the same price of the competition or either a little above or below, consumer-based pricing looks at a target customer and tries to determine how much that client type will pay for the product, then prices according to how much that target customer will pay. In 1994 my wife and I operated a bed & breakfast-fly fishing lodge called the Yellow Breeches House in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania. The house was modern inside and decorated in fly-fishing decor. The Allenberry Resort a high-end resort with 75 rooms and cottages was located ¾ a mile from the house. Three traditional B&Bs within walking distance of the house were located in the village.

My target market client was business-executives from Washington DC/Baltimore, Philadelphia, and NYC areas that loved to fly-fish. I wanted to cater to the suits on the weekends and the die-hard fly-fishermen during the middle of the week. At the time the three local B&B’s sold rooms for $60-$80 a night. The resort sold rooms from $75-$100 a night.

We had 5 rooms at our B&B and I priced the rooms in our first year of business at $99, $109, $139 and $195 (2 room suite). Remember this was 1994 and everyone told me I was crazy for pricing the rooms so high. Our prices were way above the local B&B’s that were literally right next door to us. My pricing strategy was a combination of competition-based and consumer-based pricing.

My pricing strategy was pure positioning. I wanted to position the house against the resort and sell rooms slightly higher than the resort making our lodging the most expensive in the area. My sole reasoning for this pricing strategy was that “executive” type buyers pay first class prices. I knew from research that my target client from the three cities/areas I was targeting with my marketing and advertising, paid for rooms that cost $100-$200 per night. My target client rarely paid under $100 per night. My pricing strategy worked and we successfully acquired the type of client we wanted and we sold out every weekend and we acquired the die-hard fly-fishermen during the mid-week. Sometimes we discounted the rooms during the mid-week to reach the non-executive types but this wasn’t our #1 focus.

If you don’t have a pricing strategy take time out from your business to review just exactly how and why you price the products the way you do. Review the traditional pricing models above and see if you can find a model that one reaches your target client and two positions you how you want to be positioned against your competition. The easiest way to grow sales and or increase profitability in your travel business is by changing your pricing. The Automated-Booking Markup Strategy is a proven website marketing tactic and a pricing strategy combined. The Automated-Booking Markup Strategy increased annual profits in my last online travel business by more than 10% and in the last three years prior to acquisition of the company we increased sales by 33%, 74% and close to 100% respectively.

The Automated-Booking Markup Strategy will increase bookings and profits for your travel business and I guarantee it. The power behind the Automated-Booking Markup Strategy is that it creates urgency for buyers to return to your website and buy your travel products. Literally every week ON-schedule you will receive new reservations.

The Automated-Booking Markup Strategy works for online travel businesses, tour operators, travel agencies, travel portals, hotels, motels, B&Bs, guides, and any business in the travel and tourism industry that accepts reservations or bookings online.

Source: Tips from the T-lists by Mark Zitto

Pricing strategies can have unintended consequences

BY GLEN J. KATLEIN June 01, 2009

Is pricing strategy an art or science? It is some of both. The business owner / CEO know the art of appealing to the company’s customers. The CFO must ensure the science of pricing provides the critical foundation to execute the strategy profitably.

A strategy of ‘simple pricing’ may capture the attention of customers who shy away from confusing pricing options. However, as I learned from a peer company, unintended consequences can be a loss of profitable sales in excess of profits from new sales. Tiered pricing usually evolves to provide consistent profit margins for varying product/service options with varying costs. Converting to ‘simple pricing’ may be effective if the mix of sales of the varying options can be maintained, or profits from new sales exceed lost sales. In order to maintain overall profit margins, ‘simple pricing’ usually requires some customers accepting a higher price while others enjoy a lower price than previously available.

The peer company I observed discovered that many customers realized the ‘simple price’ was higher for them and they were willing and able to pursue competitor products. The tough question is how many customers are truly in a captive sales channel and will accept the higher price to avoid the effort to change? At the other end of the spectrum, will new customers reflect a mix of the previous tier options in order to provide a similar overall profit margin? Or, will new customers consist primarily of those who will realize the simple price is lower for their respective service/product option, and therefore provide lower profit margins from new sales? Again, the peer company I observed saw a predominance of new sales with customers who realized the ‘simple price’ was now more favorable for them and they changed from existing relationships.

A strategy of a ‘loss leader’ may also gain customer interest. However, as I observed happened to a company before being introduced to me, unintended consequences can be significant cash losses. This company experienced sales shifting from 15 percent to 85 percent for the ‘loss leader’ product. And the company was locked in to the price for a period of time as a supplier. An acceptable overall profit margin may be achieved if product / service sales mix can be controlled, or if additional profitable product /service sales are generated in conjunction with selling the ‘loss leader’.

Whether considering a ‘simple pricing’ strategy or ‘loss leader’ pricing strategy, the CFO must effectively communicate with the business owner or CEO to assess potential consequences. Then, the CFO must develop effective scenario analyses to identify acceptable versus unacceptable combinations of the change in product / service sales mix and overall sales volume. Scenario assessment and analysis modeling can also be applied to compare ‘value pricing’ and ‘low cost pricing’ strategy options.

Coppell resident Glen J. Katlein is a partner in B2B CFO, a chief financial officer firm that provides service to emerging and mid-market companies. Katlein is currently serving as part-time CFO for five Dallas-Fort Worth companies. He previously spent 30 years in financial management positions with firms such as Bank of America, Citigroup and Premier Trailer Leasing. Contact Katlein at gkatlein@b2bcfo.com

Pricing strategies: Are you set up for success?

Pricing is risky. What price is too high? What price is too low? Pricing is one of the most important marketing decisions you will make. Your business model revolves around price, so finding the right price is essential. Regardless of the type of product you sell—commodity or proprietary—pricing always needs to accomplish a business objective such as:

• Acquiring a large number of new customers so you can develop life-long buyers

• Attracting early adopters and becoming the household name in your market

• Eliminating competition and converting their customers into yours

Remember that not all business objectives include making the most money possible—it’s one of many considerations. Once you know your objective, you need to decide on a pricing strategy. Here are a few basic strategies that will help you meet your business objectives. One pricing model is to penetrate a market with the goal to sell as many items as possible. Pricing to penetrate allows you to acquire market share, usually relatively quickly. In this model, you need to set your prices low. You want to find a price that balances the need to maximize profits while selling a large number of units. Some companies may even take a loss in order to penetrate a market. Why? In some cases, the lifetime value of the customer may be significantly greater than the original gain/loss on a sale. The opposite strategy of penetration pricing is top pricing, where you deliberately set prices high in order to obtain large profit margins. Many companies use this strategy when they are launching a new product that is significantly different and better from the competition. You get to market first and set significant barriers to competition. You can set your prices higher because there aren’t a lot of competitors, and it will take a long time for others to catch up. In this model, you will generally sacrifice market share in exchange for highly targeted customers, consisting of early adopters, thought leaders and visionaries—who may become your champions in the future. Large companies will often price a product at a significant loss, just to drive smaller or more threatening companies out of the market. Price-to-lose is when you don’t take a stand one way or another. Decide what you want—more market share or increased profit margins—then pick a strategy, and be sure to measure your results.

Bron:http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/articles/18578/1/Pricing-strategies-Are-you-set-up-for-success/Page1.html#

London's top restaurant tests: "Pay what you want"

Great-Britain has been heavily struck by the economical crisis. Special circumstances require special measures and that's why a London restaurant came up with a unique way to alleviate the recession suffering of his customers. They can pay whatever they want for their meal. Everything between half a pound and 50 pound (55 euro) is fine. Their motto "Just pay us what you think it's worth". Little Bay is a posh restaurant in the heart of London. The famous owner Peter Ilic takes on the crisis with a stunt in the month of February. "It's entirely up to the customer to decide how much he wants to pay. It just seemed the right thing to do with everyone under the cosh and feeling pretty miserable. I'm not afraid that I will tear my pants, because some people pay even twenty percent more than the original price. People want to be polite and would be ashamed if they do not pay enough. " Source: HLN

Groot-Brittannië is fors getroffen door de economische crisis. Uitzonderlijke omstandigheden eisen uitzonderlijke maatregelen en daarom bedacht een Londens restaurant een unieke manier om het recessieleed van zijn klanten te verzachten. Ze mogen gewoon betalen wat ze zelf willen voor hun eten. Alles tussen een half pond en 50 pond (55 euro) is oké. Het motto luidt: "Betaal wat je zelf vindt dat het waard was". Little Bay is een vrij chic restaurant in het hartje van Londen. De bekende eigenaar Peter Ilic pakt de crisis aan met een stunt in de maand februari. "Het is helemaal aan de klant om te beslissen hoeveel hij wil betalen. Het leek me wel een goed idee, nu iedereen zich zo slecht voelt door de geldproblemen. Ik heb geen schrik dat ik er mijn broek zal aan scheuren, want sommige mensen betalen zelfs twintig procent meer dan de originele prijs. Mensen willen beleefd zijn en zouden beschaamd zijn als ze niet genoeg betalen." Bron : HLN