Pricing Strategies

interview an owner/manager regarding  of any company/ store on their pricing strategies and methods. Report on your findings.  find a business owner or manager from another company who is willing to visit with you. Your goal is to discover the following:

1. What is the company’s pricing objective? For this question, it would helpful to show the interviewee a list of the pricing objectives on page 469 with very brief descriptions.(I suggest that you either highlight the first 1-3 sentences under each objective and then show the interviewee the highlighted descriptions in your text OR simply retype them on another sheet of paper for use in the interview).
2. How sensitive are the company’s target customers to changes in price? (I suggest that you give them options on this question such as “highly reactive to price changes,” “moderately sensitive to price changes,” and “low sensitivity to price changes.”)
3. Do they have some target segments that are less price sensitive than others?
4. How much consideration does the company give to competitors’ prices when setting their own?
5. What method of pricing do they use to arrive at the final price for the customer? For this question, you should be very familiar with the methods found under “Step 5″ on pages 475-480 before the interview, but do not ask the interviewee to select from among them. Instead, simply listen to the description of their pricing method(s) and process. Then, after the interview, try to determine which of the textbook’s methods the company uses. You do not need to request or report exact markups or profit margins! You should make this clear when requesting the interview! We are looking for methods of pricing, not exact figures.

Important note: This is your chance to do some “primary research.” I understand that it may be difficult to find a willing interviewee, but I expect you to try earnestly.  Don’t overlook companies owned by friends, people at your church, and those in your old hometown.  you do not need to reveal the name of the company you interviewed or its location. You should, however, reveal the industry, the nature of the business (deli, grocery store, gift shop, nursery, barber, etc), and a rough idea of the size (single mom and pop or multi-location).

Reference