Latest Pricing Insights from PriceBeam

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How do customers react when presented with different prices? How does their willingness-to-pay vary by segment or country, or how does it change over time, either organically or when subjected to stimuli? PriceBeam runs many studies around the world and we have collected some of the general insights and trends from willingness-to-pay studies in 2019.

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.

Tariffs and trade wars are in the media almost every day at the moment. Many industries find themselves caught in an environment where they may be facing tariffs, from steel production over jeans, whisky, auto-motive, to even indirect products such as the costs impacts for Coca Cola of tariffs on the raw materials for their soda cans.

Pricing Managers, Marketing Managers, and Sales teams often find it more difficult to get pricing right when launching a product in a new market, as opposed to pricing the same product in an existing market. In theory existing-market pricing should go through the same steps as new-market pricing and look at value drivers and willingness-to-pay, but in many situations existing markets mean there is a reference point to base the price on. Such a reference point is lacking if pricing for a new market.

Here are 7 ways for getting the price right when launching in new markets.

Value-based pricing requires data and insights. Without understanding what customers value, or are willing to pay, it very easily ends up being just a more sophisticated version of guesswork. Leading companies applying value-based pricing fully understand this. But there is still a trap when it comes to the willingness-to-pay data collected: because market research used to be expensive there could be a tendency to either skip some markets or generalising results from one key market to all other markets.

We are excited to announce that PriceBeam's pricing research is now available for 109 different countries around the world:

Launching a new product, whether you are in a startup or a well-established corporate environment, can be a daunting task. Everything from product development to marketing materials, sales training, customer communication and pricing comes in play. One of the biggest determinators of success is getting pricing right: price too low and the profitability is broken, plus it is almost impossible to later increase the price (substantially). Launch at too high a price and you may not sell enough to get off the ground.

Barriers to entry and the difficulty of doing business abroad have reduced considerably over the last two decades, thanks to technologies such as the Internet. This means it is much easier to do business around the globe but also that brand and product communication is increasingly global. Customers or consumers in Germany can now see product features, prices and discounts offered in USA or Singapore, and may create bad publicity if they feel that what they pay for locally is not of the same value. International prices are also considerably more transparent than ever before. On the other hand, both willingness-to-pay and actual prices do differ considerably around the globe, be it of similar of even identical products. What an Indian or Brazilian customer is willing to pay for Product A may not be the same. Or, a German customer may value Feature B over Feature A whereas the Canadian or Danish customer really only cares about Feature B and maybe Feature C that is not even available in Germany.

When pricing internationally, pricing research can provide a firm platform for superior performance:

1. Understand true differences in willingness-to-pay and don't fall into the trap of harmonizing prices across borders, just because it is easy.
2. Understand global as well as local value drivers and adjust marketing messages accordingly. Don't do global marketing on Benefit A, if this benefit is only appreciated in Japan but not in Germany. 
3. Base local pricing on true willingness-to-pay rather than gut feel.
4. Force the pricing team getting closer to local markets and customers, by having to do pricing research in all (key) markets.
5. Take the guesswork out of pricing: with price research you know he real market facts instead of guessing.
6. Make price increases more successful by reflecting local specifics and willingness-to-pay insights, rather than one-size-fits-all price increases
7. As exporters: understand customer dynamics and willingness-to-pay even in markets around the globe and without a large local market team in place.
8. Use price research and willingness-to-pay insights as proxies for brand health, and adjust marketing spend levels accordingly.
9. Make global or regional product launches more successful by understanding willingness-to-pay in each market ahead of launch.
10. Use local willingness-to-pay insights to better negotiate with international customers who are looking to harmonize prices across countries.

Shameless self-promotion: at PriceBeam we specialize in pricing research and provide insights in over 70 countries world-wide. Get in contact or even sign up for a free trial of our powerful price research solution.