Assignment:
Visit www.lovemarks.com and share your thoughts on Branding and Pricing as it relates…..to “The Future Beyond Brands.” Check out the Love/Respect Axis and see just where your favorite brand is sitting. (lmnu graphic)This should be fun, so enjoy it!
Select a company and interview the owner/manager regarding their pricing strategies and methods. Report on your findings. Ideally, this will be your current company, but you may need to be resourceful and find a business owner or manager from another company who is willing to visit with you. Your goal is to discover the following:
1- What is the company’s pricing objective? For this question, it would helpful to show the interviewee a list of the pricing objectives with very brief descriptions.
(I suggest that you either highlight the first 1-3 sentences under each objective and then show the interviewee the highlighted descriptions in your text OR simply retype them on another sheet of paper for use in the interview).
2- How sensitive are the company’s target customers to changes in price? (I suggest that you give them options on this question such as “highly reactive to price changes,” “moderately sensitive to price changes,” and “low sensitivity to price changes.”) Do they have some target segments that are less price sensitive than others?
3- How much consideration does the company give to competitors’ prices when setting their own?
4- What method of pricing do they use to arrive at the final price for the customer? Instead, simply listen to the description of their pricing method(s) and process.
Then, after the interview, try to determine which of the textbook’s methods the company uses. You do not need to request or report exact markups or profit margins! You should make this clear when requesting the interview! We are looking for methods of pricing, not exact figures.
Important note:
This is your chance to do some “primary research.” Don’t overlook companies owned by friends, people at your church, and those in your old hometown. In your post, you do not need to reveal the name of the company you interviewed or its location.
You should, however, reveal the industry, the nature of the business (deli, grocery store, gift shop, nursery, barber, etc), and a rough idea of the size (single mom and pop or multi-location). If the business owner/manager is hesitant about what you may write, offer to submit your post to them for review before posting it.
Report your findings here by Wednesday at midnight. Remember to make at least two quality peer responses this week!To answer this particular question, click the link above. Once you are in the forum, click the “Create Thread” button to view the question again, as well as, create and submit your answer.