Intuitively, a cost-plus approach sets a lower boundary for the selling price. Yet to pitch a competitive price on the market, it takes more than that. The demand forecast advocates opting for the lowest selling price which yields the highest return. A market penetration strategy necessitates thorough knowledge of the selling prices of the nearest competitors and their retaliation potential. Ideally, the lowest price in the market of £10,400 dictates the upper ceiling of AUDI’s price discretion. However, setting initially a too low price in the hope for increasing it subsequently is not a viable option, as prices are somewhat inflexible upward. Instead, costs have to sink in the long run. Nevertheless, claiming a larger market share will allow AUDI to deftly climb the steep learning curve, lower its costs and further mobilize against market followers. A high price elasticity of demand insinuates that profit margins will continue to soar, if selling prices are reduced any further. As the point of maximum profit is apparently not yet reached, the company is advised to extend the range of the forecast. But is the highest profit naturally the best profit?
In an unpredictable market customer perception is often the most viable source of information. It is difficult to directly benchmark the CAR prototype against other market offerings and therefore a value based approach could provide a better understanding of the price ceiling. Andy and Marc point out that value-informed pricing techniques are superior for products with a high relative advantage. With the current climate debate heating up, the CAR’s zero harmful emissions and low fuel costs boost its competitive advantage over petrol based cars. Yet risk per se cannot simply be av...
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...by AUDI as a possible priority over profit maximization.
Perhaps the CAR could be initially launched in a small selected test market, stressing the dialogue with the customers about the value of the product and service. Afterwards, target pricing in pace with to the company’s strategic objective of a deft market penetration can beacon engineers to rebalance the technological features of the CAR. This also accommodates better for investors’ expectations of a fixed return. Moreover, it allows AUDI’s management to concert its pricing strategy and counteract unforeseen changes in the all too sensitive demand, as the link between customer value perception and product’s cost becomes alive. After all, relying solely on a forecast is not advised, as it cannot possibly capture all the dynamics of a fairly unknown market for a project which needs to age in the years to come.
A couple of Squares has a limited capacity for which to produce their products and smaller companies tend to have larger fixed costs than bigger companies. Therefore, A Couple of Squares must maximize profits in order to ensure that they will stay in business. A profit-oriented pricing objective is also useful because of A Couple of Squares’ increased sales goals. A Couple of Squares increased their sales goals due to recent financial troubles. Maximizing profits is the easiest way to meet these sales goals due to the fact that A Couple of Squares has limited production capacity. The last key consideration favors a profit-oriented pricing objective because A Couple of Squares offers a specialty product. A specialty product often has limited competition, therefore can be priced on customer value. Pricing at customer value will maximize profits as well as customer satisfaction. A Couple of Squares’ lack of production capacity, increased sales goals, and specialty product favor a profit-oriented pricing
As we learned from Chapter 12, price must be carefully determined and match with firm’s product, distribution, and communication strategies. (Hutt & Speh, 2012, p. 300) Therefore, there should be a strong market perspective in pricing. In order to build an effective pricing policy, marketers should focus on the value a customer places on a product or service. One of the most effective ways to do so is differentiating through value creation.
Ford competes with other automobile industries on many factors such as price, quality, reliability, appearance, available features, and fuel economy just to name a few. Such intense competition within the automobile industry tends to put downwards pressure on prices, making it harder for Ford to put a price on vehicles that are similar to other cars produced by competitors. The challenging price environment puts pressure on Ford to increase value to customers while trying to dramatically reduce costs to achieve the similar pricing of competitors. Ford must be able to reasonably price vehicles so that customers still feel as if they are getting the best car for their money. Competitive pricing is a threat to Ford because it must increasingly rely on customer perceived value to differentiate its car quality from its competitors. Ford must be able to justify its pricing in an industry where resembling cars have similar pricing and nearly identical features. Ford’s pricing objectives must somehow be achieved as other competitors are cutting costs and improving their vehicles. Negative pricing pressure threatens Ford’s ability to provide outstanding value to its customers for smaller or comparable pricing within the competitive automobile
Setting prices too high would discourage purchasing and setting prices too low negatively affects revenue. While several pricing strategies exist, the use of a value-based pricing system, as implemented at Cabela’s, offers an optimal strategy that meet both customer expectations and company requirements.
The first strategic alternative for Harley-Davidson (HD) to address is that of adjusting pricing. Throughout the years HD has been known for its ability to provide high quality motorcycles to its customers, however this quality comes at a high price. To those customers who are willing and able to pay HD’s higher price for quality the present pricing schedule is acceptable. Unfortunately, to those unable to pay this higher price HD’s motorcycles are unattainable making competitor bike financially more appealing. In order to increase HD’s sales, and consequently in...
The implication of price wars can be severe as companies would fight to make new products while dealing with the high prices associated with research and development (R&D) costs, which is a major challenge posed on firms that are competing to stay in the industry. Therefore, in the long run, companies who successfully manage to make the best product the best prices, will win the price war while pushing other companies out of the market.
The issue of whether customers should buy FWD and RWD cars is complex and controversial. Different people hold different ideas due to their drive experience and consumers attitudes. On one hand, lots of people believe that only RWD cars represent Luxury and high-performance. On the other hand, the car made on FWD are much cheaper and popular. However, most of customers are blind and ignorant on it. Many of them don’t even know the automobile layout of their sedan after use it for decades.
There are many different automobile companies providing buyers with many styles of cars, trucks, SUVs, and motorcycles. Toronto Star January 14, 2005 present ways to approach the automotive buying process. There are many different surveys, crash reports, and rating systems comparing different companies and their vehicles. Things you should look for when reading these published articles are who conducted the study? Who paid for it? Who gains from it? Who loses? These are all things to keep eye on as some automotive companies will run their own surveys making their products seem overpowering against the competition. Some prove their products are safer then the competition where the competition has been proven time and time again to make that survey seem inaccurate.
Another strategy used by BMW to differentiate itself from other automakers in the market is the proactive usage of technology and innovativeness in the development of products. From the early 1990’s, BMW has been on the forefront of incorporating technology in its designs in line with the technological advances of the modern world. This has led to the creation of inventive products. The uniqueness of these auto products put BMW in a position of advantage. The development of the hydrogen car as early as 2000 was an indicator of the company’s innovative strategy. In addition, the company also presents itself as environment friendly creating a whole range of vehicles in this category. This is a differentiation strategy meant to boost the company’s image and reputation amongst customers. In addition, this gives the environment conscious customers a variety of products to choose from giving BMW an upper hand in the industry.
One of the very first things a buyer should consider when looking for a car is what kind of car he/she wants. Many different factors can affect the car buying process. For one, the buyer must consider how big of a vehicle he/she wants and safety features like airbags, seatbelts, and working brakes. Itemizing a list of accessories can also help narrow down what kind of car to buy. While some people might prefer a Sedan with a large back seat and seat warmers, others may prefer an extreme luxury car with full stereo systems and miniature televisions. Every person has different tastes in accessories; luckily, there is a vehicle that can fit almost every personality. Most new models have the latest technology installed, although some of the “newer” used cars have the option of adding in those accessories. Once the...
As the supply curve moves in the automobile industry, the equilibrium price and quantity sold will change with this shift. When the automobile manufacturers see this shift in supply, they will then raise their prices and the quantity sold will fall. Car manufacturers will also develop...
Toyota’s uses both differentiation and low cost as generic strategies to try and gain a competitive advantage over their competitors in the automotive industry. The market scope that Toyota uses is a broad one that encompasses nearly every type of customer that is in the market to purchase an automobile. Toyota is able to target such a large market because they have something for everyone. Toyota has four wheel drive trucks and SUVs for the outdoor types or those who live in areas that face severe weather conditions, hybrid models like the Prius for the eco-friendly customers that are interested in saving the environment, along with the standard cars for general, everyday use. Additionally, Toyota provides vehicles for all price ranges.
Porsche came out with the models of 914 and 944 because they take the consumers with lower income into account during the recession of 1970s. They redesign, reposition and reprice the vehicles so that it is allow the consumers to purchase the product for the purpose of social class, family needs or status. With this, Porsche still able to create loyal customers even if the economic situation did affected their business when they have considered their customers’ personal income, savings and interest
One method that Toyota can consider is using the price elasticity of demand to determine whether to increase or decrease the sale price of their automobiles. The responsiveness or sensitivity of consumers to a price change is measured by a product's price elasticity of demand (McConnell & Brue, 2004). Market goods can be described as elastic or inelastic goods as change in quantity demanded for that good. If demand is elastic, a decrease in price will increase total revenue. Even though a lower price would generate lower sales revenue per unit, more than enough additional units would be sold to offset lower price (McConnell & Brue, 2004). In a normal market condition, a price increase leads to a decreased demand, and a price decrease leads to increased demand. However, a change in income affecting demand is more complex.
Schmidt, J. (2010, September 29). Strategy and targets of mercedes-benz cars sales and marketing. Retrieved from http://www.daimler.com/Projects/c2c/channel/documents/1931898_Daimler_UBS_Paris_DJSchmidt_Handout.pdf