2.2.4

Pricing Methods

Test yourself

Pricing Methods - Price Penetration

Price penetration is where a business tries to increase market share by offering a low initial price. Loss leaders work in a similar way to price penetration.

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Increase market share

  • When these goods or services enter the market, a business can attract customers from established competitors.
    • Price penetration was used by Apple when they entered the market for activity trackers by launching the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch competed with products by businesses like Fitbit.
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Lower short-term profits

  • In the short term, price penetration can lead to lower average profits than would be earned with a higher price.
  • However, market share may be more important for the long-term profitability of a business.
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Loss leaders

  • Loss leaders are products or services that are sold by a business at a price where the business makes a loss (average revenue < average cost).
  • Loss leaders can attract new customers or sell to existing customers, in the hope that they make extra (incidental) purchases.
    • Dollar Shave Club offered to deliver a razor and new razor blades to your house for $1 every month. This was loss making, but it attracted customers who bought extra products.

Pricing Methods - Competitive and Cost-Plus Pricing

There are 2 other forms of pricing that you need to know about: competitive pricing and cost-plus pricing.

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Competitive pricing

  • Competitive pricing is when a business sets its prices for its products and services based on what other firms in the market are charging.
  • Competitive pricing is used when the products in a market are similar.
  • The petrol sold at petrol stations is usually based on competitive prices. In February 2018, all the petrol stations within 3 miles of Derby city centre were charging 121.9p per litre of petrol.
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Cost-plus pricing

  • Cost-plus pricing is a pricing strategy where a business charges the customer based on what it costs to produce the product or service.
  • They work out exactly what it costs to produce the product (or service) on average and then add a “mark-up” (extra amount) on top of this cost to make sure that the business makes a gross profit.
    • For example, if Kwik Fit bought a Dunlop tyre from its suppliers for £80, then if they added a 25% mark-up, then the tyre would be sold to customers for £100.

Jump to other topics

1Enterprise & Entrepreneurship

1.1The Dynamic Nature of Businesses

1.2Spotting a Business Opportunity

1.3Putting a Business Idea into Practice

1.4Making the Business Effective

1.5Business Stakeholders

2Building a Business

2.1Growing the Business

2.2Making Marketing Decisions

2.3Making Operational Decisions

2.4Making Financial Decisions

2.5Making Human Resource Decisions

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