Did you that know that entrepreneurship and pricing is one of the essential aspect of any successful enterprise or business? When starting a new venture, it's crucial to consider pricing strategies that coordinate with the distinctive value offer of the product or service. While pricing can be a complicated topic, understanding basic pricing concepts can help business owners to make informed decisions that will support the development, growth and profitability of their business.

In general, pricing tactics should take into account factors such as production costs, target market, profit margin desired and competitive landscape. Without further ado, let's get straight into the discussion of the day - "Pricing".

First of all, as a recap of what was taught in the lesson, what is pricing?

Pricing is the process of determining the optimal price to charge for a product or service that a business has to offer to its customers. It basically involves the art of setting up a price that sure balances the business's need to make a profit with the willingness of the customer to pay, therefore maximising gains and attracting customers. Also it involves the analysing of various factors such as cost of production, labour, value of product/service, market conditions and competitive prices.

What is the importance of the pricing process?

There are various importance of the pricing process of a product or service for a business. These importance includes;

1. Revenue and profitability: Proper and good pricing ensures a business is making profits which is providing room for new investments in products or services, pay employees and fund future growth. It also affects the revenue by influencing the amount of money customers are willing to pay for a product or service.
2. Cost Recovery: Cost recovery is achieved when a perfect pricing is out in place. A good pricing will ensure that the business can recover their costs, including distribution, marketing and production expenses. This can be done in two approach;

• Full cost recovery: This tactics involves setting a price that allow businesses to recover all it cost including variable and fixed costs.
• Marginal cost recovery: This strategy involves setting prices based on the variable costs that is associated with the production of a unit or servicing of each unit, with the aim oc recovering these potential costs while maximizing profit as well.

1. Competitive advantage: Pricing can be a key differentiator between businesses, setting them from their competitors. By offering competitive prices for products and services, businesses can attract and hold customers and dominate the market price point.
2. Demand management: Prices often influence ls customers demand, affecting the purchasing decisions and shaping market trends. By modifying prices, the will be increase in sales, demand management and driven revenue growth..
3. Customer perception: Pricing also affects how customers perceive the worth, value, uniqueness and quality of a product or service you render. Effective pricing can enhance customer perception, increasing loyalty and trust..
4. Business growth: Pricing can drive and boost the business growth by increasing revenue (as stated in no. 1), expanding market share, and enhancing market competitiveness. Effective and proper pricing can help business to achieve the desired growth and height to maintain a distinctive edge in the market.
5. Customer satisfaction: What customers feel about what they paid for is also influenced by proper and effective pricing. Fair and transparent pricing considering meeting the needs of your customers will enhance satisfaction and increase trust and loyalty.
6. Market positioning: Pricing influences how businesses are been examined in the market by the public and other businesses, impacting their brand reputation and image. By pricing tactically, businesses can put themselves in the position of being value-driven, innovative and premium.

When establishing the price of a product or service, several aspects should be taken into consideration. Here are some key factors that should be taken into account:

1. Internal Factors

• Costs: Calculate the total cost of producing and delivering or distributinh the product orsl service, including labour, distribution expenses and materials.
• Target profit margin: Determine the profit margin desired considering the industry average, business goal and competition.
• Value proposition: Take into assessment the unique value the product or service offers including the benefits, features and quality.

2. External factors

• Market condition: Research the competition, market demand and pricing trend to give competitive price to the product or service..
• Customer willingness to pay: Understand the willingness of the targeted audience to pay for the product/service considerinh their income, purchasing habit and preferences.
• Regulatory environment: Be in compliance with laws, regulations and industry standards that may have impact on the pricing

3. Competitive Factor

• Differentiation: Put into consideration how the product or service differs from your competitors, and how it's differences can impact the pricing.
• Market Positioning: Determine the desired market position, whether its value driven, budget friendly or its premium.
• Competitor pricing: Examine competitor's prices, looking into their discounts, promotions and pricing strategies.

4. Customers Factors

• Price transparency: Ensure that the pricing is clear, transparent and easy to understand by the customers.
• Customer segmentation: Identify specific customer segments and set pricing strategies that suits and meet their needs.
• Price elasticity: Understand how priceday change affects demand, and modify pricing accordingly.

5. Other Factors

• Production capacity: Consider the capacity of the production and it's impact on pricing, especially during high demand times.
• Inflation and economic trend: Monitor the rate of inflation and economic trends to ensure pricing remains profit as well as competitive.
• Seasonality: Modify pricing to reflect seasonal fluctuations in demand for the product or service.

Here are some good examples of businesses that fit each of the pricing methods that were mentioned in the lesson.

Cost-Based Pricing Method

1. Walmart: Walmart uses a cost-based pricing method, focusing on keeping costs low and passing the savings on to customers. They achieve this goal through effective and efficient supply chain management, purchases in bulk and minimising the expenses for advertisement.
2. McDonald's: McDonald's also uses a cost-based pricing method. They maintain low prices by maximising their production process, using controlled labour costd and use of normalised ingredients.

Demand-Based Pricing Method

1. Uber: Uber uses the demand-based pricing method, modifying prices according to demand in real-time. During high demand areas or peak hours, prices rise to encourage more drivers to become available to handle the demand.
2. Airbnb: The Airbnb business use a demand-based pricing method too. Hosts can set prices for services based in location, Seasonal demand and other factors. Price tends to surge during peak festive or travel seasons or in population locations.

Fixation Method Justified in the competition

1. Luxury fashion bands(e.g., Gucci, Versace); Luxury fashion brands often employ a "fixation method justified in the competition" setting prices high based on the quality of the brand, heritage and exclusivity. They focus on maintaining a premium image and justifying high prices through their distinctive value proposition and limited supply production.
2. Apple: Apple used a "fixation method justified in the competition" placing prices on their products based on their design, quality and reputation. They focus solely on differentiating themselves from competitors and vindicating higher prices through their special value proposition.

The company Steemians invests $130,000 in the equipment needed for its production to enable the production and subsequent sale of the new product. A return of 20% on the value of the investment is expected. The expected sales level for next year is 21,000 units.

It is requested:

• What should be the percentage of profit that should be added to a total unit production cost of $25.00 to achieve the desired profitability?
• At what price should we enter the domestic market?
• If the competition has a price of $28.00 for a product with similar characteristics, would it be possible to compete?

To give solution and answer to this task, there are datas provided and so it is possible to create a table below to show the calculations and expected answers to the three questions above.

From the calculations made in the above table, it is okay to conclude that:

• The percentage profit to be applied to the total costs of the unit production cost of $25.00 is ,4.96%
• The selling price at which the product should be released to the domestic market $26.29
• Since the selling price is lower than that of the competition/competitive price, the desired profitability objective is being met and it is also competitive in the market.

To sum it all up, creating a competitive price for a product or service for business, requires careful consideration and examination of the production cost, labour, target market, desired profitability and the competitive landscape.

By analysing these factors, and adjusting the pricing of products and services accordingly, businesses can develop a pricing tactic that supports the growth and profitability of the enterprise.

Thanks for reading
I invite @bossj23, @rebeccamon and @alli001 to participate

Cc,
@yolvijrm