Price
Strategy
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Online stores are dumping your prices and Off-line stores dont want to deal with you. |
Right from the beginning, you have to be aware that On-line stores will dump your prices if you are not in control. Base your strategy on your long-term goals; where you want to sell the most products. |
Price control You always want to be in control of your street prices - even retail wants you to be in control. If retail chains are dumping your street prices, you have to act fast (read instantly) and consequential. You cannot let all retail chains have too high of a profit. If the average retail profit for similar competing products is 20% and you offer 40% to all chains, there is a very big chance that it will start a snowball effect and other stores will have to lower their prices too. In that situation, you cannot control the prices. Have a plan of action in case this happens. I have seen all kinds of vendor reactions. Instant and hard reactions earns you respect. One way to control the street prices is to carefully select the retail chains/sales channels that should have an assortment of your product. It is a difficult task with all kinds of possible sales channels, but in the end, you must do this. Additionally, it is a selling-in argument for the selected retail chains. Retail always looks for products that they can be the first to announce with a new low price. Use this as a bonus for retailers that keep the street prices in the area you want. |
Prices On-line and Off-line Dont be surprised that on-line stores dump your prices. They compete in different World than the Off-line stores. Through search engines and alike, it DOES matter whether they always come out as one of the most expensive stores or one of the cheapest stores. Eventually the On-line stores have to increase the prices, but the entry barrier to be an on-line store is so low, that new discount concepts will show up for a while to come. This is also, why Off-line stores do not do well in the on-line World. They follow the prices off-line. So what do you do? You could start out calculating how much you could expect to sell on-line and how much off-line. If your calculations say 80% On-line, then maybe you should focus on that. However, if the calculations say 80% Off-line, then you have to control the prices on-line consequently. Note that consumers have a strong tendency to choose the products On-line they can find Off-line.
Jens Welling |
The author of this article Jens Welling has worked with retail purchase, retail sales and retail marketing over the last 15+ years. Jens Welling has written a number of articles as a good source for any new and established company who want success with retail sales. Below are short descriptions and links to other articles. |
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Why You Have To Do Your Homework Choosing Sales And Distribution Channels Category Management Unique Selling Points (USP) Price Strategy What The Buyer Wants To Know Exit Strategy Price Setting |
Negotiation Tactics Rejection From Buyer Marketing Strategy Education Management Warranties Building A Brand Logistics Keeping Your Store Sales Alive Product Development |