PriceBeam

Determining the next best alternative price is an important factor of value-based pricing. The next best alternatives price serves a comparison point for companies when they determine a value-based price for their new products. Firms determine the value of their product or service by comparing to the next best alternative product or service. A product is seen as valuable if it has better features and performs better than other products in the market, regardless of what the alternative product actually costs.

Value drivers are product or service features that improve the perception of the product or service a business is trying to sell and can help businesses grow substantially. Value drivers include technological features, brand awareness, and customer satisfaction. Value drivers are also what set a firm's product or service apart from its competitors, acting as a competitive advantage. Value drivers also give the added impression that a company's product or service is better than their competitors. Value drivers allow companies to influence their customer base to purchase their product or service. The distinctive traits that a business' product has will thus make said product look more attractive than its competitors. Once a company has figured out which value drivers boost its profits and its standing amongst competitors, it can use those value drivers to implement successful pricing increases.

The end of the year remains the time where many businesses plan and execute price increases for the coming year. By how much, when and what product or market scope are then key questions. By getting market facts through price research instead of guessing what are the best areas to increase in, companies can improve the likely success of such increases tremendously. It can help a business get a firm grip on what product features are more important, what customer are willing to pay for a certain product or service, and analyse what competitors are charging for their products. 

2018 has been a year where tariffs were a key topic in the news. The US government imposing tariffs on Chinese goods and the Chinese government doing the same to US goods had and will continue to have serious ramifications for businesses. Even though the first round of these tariffs were for steel and aluminium, consumers buy many products that contain steel or aluminium, which also drives the price up of ordinary consumer goods. Tariffs impact consumer goods the most and businesses are left with a tough decision to either hike the prices of their products or reduce their profit margins. This will result in a decline in retail volumes for many companies, with companies such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola having to raise prices for the consumer side in order to cope with the extra costs. Tariffs have seen the average cost of washing machines in the US jump by 17%.

These tariffs imposed by the Trump administration will impact two types of companies:

The 29th of March, 2019, the day the United Kingdom officially leaves the European Union, is fast approaching. It is important for businesses to know the impacts Brexit will have on pricing for their products and how they can prepare for post-Brexit. Food prices are expected to go up after Brexit and some have even encouraged the government to cut tariffs on international products. Adding to that, a "no-deal" Brexit could have huge consequences for businesses as they risk potentially going bust in the event of no trade deal being secured. Despite this, some companies can actually gain from Brexit if they know how to retain their customers when the prices will be impacted by Brexit and thus become out of sync with consumer/customer willingness to pay for certain goods.

Marketing teams face annual budgets for their various investments in brand equity creation, product development, promotions, advertising and much more. Price research can contribute in a number of highly valuable ways when it comes to these decisions.

1. Understand if the brand (or individual product) is considered over-valued or under-valued by the customers: Willingness-to-pay research is a great indicator of how much value customers associate with the brand in comparison to the current price. Take an example like this chart from the PriceBeam solution:

What should the price be for your existing line of products? Are customers willing to pay more than they pay today? Are consumers willing to pay more for brand extensions or entirely new products? What should be the optimal price for different markets? How do you implement the planned price increase? What would be consumers' reactions to different (price) promotions?

CPG/FMCG brand teams face a myriad of decisions related to pricing their brands and individual SKUs, be it existing or new products. Research shows that there is considerable profit improvement potential by collecting price research among consumers and applying those insights to the pricing of both individual items and across an assortment.

In this upcoming webinar we look at different methods for collecting actionable price intelligence through primary consumer research, and how to use those insights in different situations such as: