COMPETITIVE PRICING

Effective pricing is essential for a business. That’s the only way they’d know at what price they should offer a product, while maintaining a good profit margin and keeping up with the competition. A business can pick from a variety of pricing strategies and the selection depends on different factors.

Pricing is one of the most important components when it comes to creating marketing strategies. The price is one of the first things that a consumer notices about a product and is one of the deciding factors when it comes to their decision to buy it or not.

When a product is priced in accordance with what the competition is charging, it’s known as competitive pricing. It is one of the four major pricing strategies adopted by most companies. The other three include, cost-plus strategy, where a prefixed profit margin is added over the total cost of the product, demand pricing, under which the price is set by establishing the optimal relationship between volume and price, and markup pricing, where a percentage is added (as profit) over the wholesale price of the product.

When it comes to competition based pricing strategy, the purchasing behaviour of customers is an important criteria. Some of the factors that companies take into account are costs, competition, and price sensitivity. In order to ensure profitable sustenance of the business, managers have to set the price such that it covers the production cost, company overheads costs, and also offers suitable profits.

The concept of competitive pricing is best understood when there are only two competing parties. Suppose, two companies manufacture detergent for washing clothes. Both will charge the same price and if one company wants to compete with the other, will advertise saying why it’s product is better.

Even big corporate giants sometimes resort to competitive pricing strategy when they want to enter a new market. They have to set the price almost equivalent to their competitor, even if the production cost is high. In case the production cost is higher, they’d have to play around and adjust prices of packaging, advertising, and distribution.

When a company is unable to anticipate competitor price changes or is not equipped to make corresponding changes in a timely fashion, a retailer may offer to match advertised competitor prices. This allows the retailer to maintain a competitive price point for those who become aware of the competitor's offer without having to officially change the price within the retailer’s point of sale system.

For example, in November 2014, Amazon projected price changes to approximately 80 million items in preparation for the holiday season. Other retailers, including Walmart and Best Buy, announced a price-matching program. This allowed customers of Walmart or Best Buy to receive a product at the lower price without risking customers taking their business to Amazon solely for pricing reasons.

For many small businesses in particular, competitive pricing results in a narrowing of profit margins. This makes the business vulnerable to a sudden rise in costs. Therefore, independent retailers competing with high-volume, big box stores may choose an alternative pricing strategy that affords them a larger cushion on their profit margin and justify it on the basis of their niche advantage -- for example, being local and customer-focused.