Chapter 10

Pricing – Understanding & Capturing Customer Value

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

 Learning Outcomes
• Define product and the major classifications of products and services
• Describe the decisions companies make regarding their individidual
products and services
• Identify four characteristics that affect the marketing of services and
the additional marketing considerations that services require
• Discuss branding strategy

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

 Content:
I. Price
II. Major Pricing Strategies
III. Other Internal & External Considerations Affecting Price Decisions

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

I. Price
• Price is the amount of money charged for a product or service. It is the
sum of all the values that consumers give up in order to gain the
benefits of having or using a product or service.
• Price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue; all
other elements represent costs.
=> Key role in creating customer value & building customer relationships.

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

II. Major Pricing Strategies
1. Cost-Based Pricing:
• Cost-based pricing setting prices based on the costs for producing,
distributing, and selling the product plus a fair rate of return for effort
and risk.
• Cost-based pricing adds a standard markup to the cost of the product.
• If lower cost => lower price => increasing in margin & profit
E.g: BigC, Coopmart
• If higher cost => higher price => higher margin
E.g: Apple, BMW

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

II. Major Pricing Strategies
1. Cost-Based Pricing
a. Fixed Cost:
• Fixed costs (overhead) are the costs that do not vary with production or
sales level.
• E.g: Company must pay each month’s bills for rent, heat, interest, and
executive salaries regardless of the company’s level of output.

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

II. Major Pricing Strategies
1. Cost-Based Pricing
b. Variable Cost:
• Variable costs are the costs that vary with the level of production.
• E.g: Building a PC requires computer chips, wires, plastic, packaging,
and other inputs.
• Packaging
• Raw materials

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

II. Major Pricing Strategies
1. Cost-Based Pricing
c. Total Cost:
• Total costs are the sum of the fixed and variable costs for any given level
of production.
• To earn advantage competitive. Should we increase or decrease cost and
price?

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

II. Major Pricing Strategies
1. Cost-Based Pricing

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

Costs as a Function of Production Experience
II. Major Pricing Strategies
1. Cost-Based Pricing
• Experience or learning curve
is when average cost falls as
production increases
because fixed costs are
spread over more units

Costs as a Function of Production Experience

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA
II. Major Pricing Strategies
2. Cost-Plus Pricing
• Cost-plus pricing adds a standard markup to the cost of the product
• Benefits
- Sellers are certain about costs
- Prices are similar in industry and price competition is minimized
- Buyers feel it is fair
• Disadvantages
- Ignores demand and competitor prices

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

II. Major Pricing Strategies
3. Break-Even Analysis & Target Profit Pricing
• Break-even pricing is the price at which total costs are equal to total
revenue and there is no profit
• Target return pricing is the price at which the firm will break even or
make the profit it’s seeking

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

II. Major Pricing Strategies
4. Customer Value-Based Pricing
• Understanding how much value consumers place on the benefits they
receive from the product and setting a price that captures that value

Figure 10.1: Customer Value-Based Pricing

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA
II. Major Pricing Strategies
4. Customer Value-Based Pricing
a. Value-based pricing uses the buyers’ perceptions of value, not the
sellers cost, as the key to pricing. Price is considered before the marketing
program is set.
• Value-based pricing is customer driven
• Cost-based pricing is product driven

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

II. Major Pricing Strategies
4. Customer Value-Based Pricing
b. Good-value pricing offers the right combination of quality and good
service at a fair price.
c. Everyday low pricing (EDLP) charging a constant everyday low price with
few or no temporary price discounts.
d. High-low pricing charging higher prices on an everyday basis but
running frequent promotions to lower prices temporarily on selected
items
e. Value-added pricing attaches value-added features and services to
differentiate offers, support higher prices, and build pricing power.
(price is equal o competitors)

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

II. Major Pricing Strategies
5. Competition-Based Pricing
• Setting prices based on competitors’ strategies, costs, prices, and market
offerings.
• Consumers will base their judgments of a product’s value on the prices
that competitors charge for similar products.

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

 Discussion Question
What are the goals of setting the LOW & HIGH pricing in a firm?

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

III. Other Internal & External Considerations
Affecting Price Decisions
1. Targeting Cost
• Target costing starts with an ideal selling price based on consumer value
considerations and then targets costs that will ensure that the price is
met
• Reversing the usual process (design -> produce -> determine cost)
=> The products should provide best value in terms of benefits received for
the price paid

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

III. Other Internal & External Considerations
Affecting Price Decisions
2. Organizational Considerations
• Who should set the price:
+ Small companies: top management
+ Large companies: divisional or product managers
+ Industrial market: salespeople, negotiators
=> Top management sets the price objectives; but lower-management
proposes the prices
• Who can influence the prices:
+ Pricing department: airline, aerospace, steel, railroads, oil companies.
+ Sales manager, production manager, finance manager, accountants
Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA
III. Other Internal & External Considerations
Affecting Price Decisions
3. The Market and Demand
• Before setting prices, the marketer must understand the relationship
between price and demand for its products.

Pure competition
Monopolistic competition
Oligopolistic competition
Pure monopoly

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

III. Other Internal & External Considerations
Affecting Price Decisions
3. The Market and Demand
a. Pure competition:
• Many buyers and sellers trading in a uniform commodity (rice, wheat,
copper, or financial securities).
• No single buyer or seller has much effect on the going market price.
• Hence, marketing research, product development, pricing, advertising, and
sales promotion play little or no role. Sellers in these markets do not spend
much time on marketing strategy.

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

III. Other Internal & External Considerations
Affecting Price Decisions
3. The Market and Demand
b. Monopolistic competition:
• The market consists of many buyers and sellers who trade over a range of
prices rather than a single market price.
• A range of prices occurs because sellers can differentiate their offers to
buyers.

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

III. Other Internal & External Considerations
Affecting Price Decisions
3. The Market and Demand
c. Oligopolistic competition:
• To each other’s pricing and marketing strategies.
• Because there are few sellers, each seller is alert and responsive to
competitors’ pricing strategies and moves.

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

III. Other Internal & External Considerations
Affecting Price Decisions
3. The Market and Demand
d. Pure Monopoly:
• In a pure monopoly, the market consists of “one seller”. The seller may be a
government.
- Monopoly (the U.S. Postal Service), a private regulated monopoly (a
power company), or a private nonregulated monopoly (DuPont when it
introduced nylon).
- Pricing is handled differently in each case.

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

III. Other Internal & External Considerations
Affecting Price Decisions
4. The Demand Curve
• The demand curve shows the number of units the market will buy in a given
period at different prices
• Normally, demand and price are inversely related
• Higher price = lower demand
• For prestige (luxury) goods, higher price can equal higher demand when
consumers perceive higher prices as higher quality

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

III. Other Internal & External Considerations
Affecting Price Decisions
4. The Demand Curve

Figure 10.2: The Demand Curves

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA
III. Other Internal & External Considerations
Affecting Price Decisions
4. The Demand Curve
a. Price elasticity of demand illustrates the response of demand to a change in
price
b. Inelastic demand occurs when demand hardly changes when there is a
small change in price
c. Elastic demand occurs when demand changes greatly for a small change in
price

Price elasticity of demand = % change in quantity demand

% change in price

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

III. Other Internal & External Considerations
Affecting Price Decisions
5. The Economy
• Strong impact on the firm’s pricing strategies (or recession, inflation, and
interest rates)
• Marketing focuses on affordable items instead of cutting prices or deep
discount.
• The balance in price and value received is necessary.

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

III. Other Internal & External Considerations
Affecting Price Decisions
6. Other External Factors
• Reseller’s response to price: must have fair profit & support from the
company.
• Government: significantly impacts on pricing decisions
• Social Concerns:

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

 Recap
 Price
 Major Pricing Strategies
 Other Internal & External Considerations Affecting Price Decisions

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA

 Next Week
Chapter 12: Marketing Channels – Delivering Customer Value

Principles of Marketing _ Lai Vinh Phuc, MBA