The best marketing strategy begins with pricing. Pricing is such a very huge aspect of microeconomics and the all important topic of demand and supply. Depending on products and markets, a manufacturer could go with price-based pricing or cost-based pricing. In most cases, I prefer the former as the seller could win big provided he understands the potential customers very well.

Under price-basing pricing, you are examining the ability of the customer to pay. So, it opens the door to super high profits or possible losses just to keep your market share. For instance, you want to introduce a new brand in a market and your feasibility studies show that your customers cannot pay more than a certain amount that will enable you to break even. Yet, you move ahead because presence in that market provides future prospects for growth and profitability.

Pharmaceutical companies do that a lot when they are moving into developing economies. The prices they ask for their products are aligned with the power of the patients to pay than what the products cost them. Through that, they increase market share as more patients buy their products. This implies that a drug that sells $200 in Florida could be sold for $1 in Botswana by the same company. Simply, it is using the purchasing power of the market to drive the marketing dynamics.

The other one- cost based pricing- looks at setting price that will give you a certain profit level. You look at your fixed and variable costs and based on those arrive on the price of the product. This method may not be ideal in most cases and I think it is weaker strategy. Marketing is a behavioral science and having rigidity could hurt you in the market. It is better to know your break even point and possibly ascertain if you can take advantage of the purchasing power of your customers.

In a commodity market where differentiation is very limited, cost-based pricing could win. Irrespective of your pricing technique, it is vital you know your production cost before you map how to market your products. Some markets command great mark-ups while some do not. If your product is elastic, you must approach the market understanding the behavior of price to your customers.

Similarly, for high entry barrier markets like pharmaceuticals, cost-based pricing will never win. The products are so important that consumers rarely have choices than to buy within the industry. That is why the Big Pharma could make profits in excess of 2000%.

Now, how do the marketers get you into the business of buying? They work your brain. Look at it this way with basic examples. You visit a grocery store and see a big markdown in price; say 60% off. The reality is that there may not be a markdown. The seller simply understands that you will think of a bargain when you see big markdowns and then open your wallets.

In short the propensity to pay $20 for a trouser after the original price was marked down by 80% is higher than paying $18 for a very similar trouser without a markdown. The latter does not communicate winning in our brain, while the former gives a feeling of success and win. But in reality, you lost, financially, in the former by $2. Have you ever wondered why a grocer is stocking a product for the first time and immediately marking it down by 30%? They also try to give a relative time stamped pricing like “was $200, now $50” or they yanked a product very high, mark it down immediately and use that old price to give an impression that price was cut.

That brings another point where some airlines will tell you that bags could be transported free and then charge high ticket fees to cover that cost of bag. Others will charge for bags, but their ticket fees are lower. Which one is better? It depends if you carry checked bags when you travel. The one that charges for bags could be more efficient as the price is not shared by all customers. So if you carry checked bag, you pay for it, otherwise, no worries. The other one distributes and subsidies the costs of the bags for those that carry bags and then make ticket fees more expensive for those that don’t. However, you may be stuck with the theme that your bags were not paid in one without realizing that your ticket fee was higher.

Psychology of pricing is in everything we do. Government wants out taxes to be withheld and then at the end of the year, they send us tax refunds. Though this is really a very inefficient system to us the payers since the government is not paying interest on the money we have “loaned” them, we tend to think we made a gain. Simply, any time you get a tax refund, it means you have not invested your money very well. You gave government free loan accumulated over one year; that money might have yielded some interests if invested.

But what can you do? Nothing, because it is government and in most cases, it can be designed to look like government just did you a great deal while in reality they used your money for free and not paying any interest.

Pricing is very important and making customers to feel like winners is very important. If you know how to do that, you will have a great career. That is why understanding your customer matters. So, if you think it is easy to be a marketing director, try to become a psychologist first as those price tags you see in Wal-Mart, Giants, Sears, etc are not just the works of accountants; many things are into them.

Author: Ndubuisi Ekekwe