There are also pricing strategies to be looked at;
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Premium pricing - Uses a high price, but gives a good product/service exchange e.g. The Ritz Hotel or Harrods
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Penetration pricing - offers low price to gain market share - then increases price e.g. France Telecom - to attract new corporate clients
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Economy pricing - placed at ‘no frills’, low price e.g. Soups, spaghetti, beans - ‘economy’ brands
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Price skimming - where prices are high - usually during introduction e.g. new albums or films on release
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Psychological pricing - to get a customer to respond on an emotional, rather than rational basis e.g. 99p not £1.01 ‘price point perspective
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Product line pricing - rationale of a product range e.g. MARS 32p, Four-pack 99p, Bite-size £1.29
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Captive product pricing - products that complement others e.g. Gillette razors (low price) and blades (high price)
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Product bundle pricing - sellers combine several products at the same price e.g. software, books, CDs.
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Promotional pricing - BOGOF e.g. toothpaste, soups, etc
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Geographical pricing - different prices for customers in different parts of the world e.g. Include shipping costs, or place on Product Life Cycle.
Product- NEXT would take a look at certain products and see whether it would be suitable for those items to continue being sold as they may not be selling really well or to see what are selling well and bring them in for the items that are not. This is known as research and development (continually changing products for customer wants and needs). As NEXT have their own range of clothing the nearest competitors similar to them are Marks & Spencers and Burton. I have decided to compare 8 products to get an overview the difference between prices, style and quality.
- Denim Jeans
NEXT - £19.99 - £29.99
Marks & Spencer – £25.00 - £35.00
Burton - £29.99 - £39.99
- Formal trousers
NEXT - £17.99
Marks & Spencer – £20.00
Burton - £21.99
- Blazers
NEXT - £39.99 - £54.99
Marks & Spencer – £40.00 - £60.00
Burton - £49.99 - £69.99
- Jumpers
NEXT - £19.99 - £29.99
Marks & Spencer – £22.00
Burton - £29.99
- Shirt
NEXT - £14.99 - £29.99
Marks & Spencer – £20.00 - £30.00
Burton – £24.99 - £34.99
6. Tie
NEXT - £12.99 - £19.99
Marks & Spencer – £14.00 - £20.00
Burton – £14.99 - £24.99
7. Scarf
NEXT - £5.99
Marks & Spencer - £8.00
Burton - £7.99
As you can see from the eight random products chosen from the three rival companies of NEXT. NEXT have been proven to provide their products at a competitive price compared with their retailing rivals.
Place- This is where they will sell their products, because if you set up your business in a remote area, which nobody has ever heard of, you are not as likely to get any customers as to if it was a busy, commercial area.
The place that I am focussing on is in the heart of the West End also known as Central London. NEXT sell their products outside of the UK as well. They currently have 100 stores in Europe, Asia and the Middle East and this number in the near future will grow and grow to other places like Scandanavia, Australia and North America. In the UK there are 400 stores, the largest is situated in Manchester’s Arndale Centre and is in excess of 80,000 square feet.
As NEXT are a independent company (which only sells goods of their own brand name) having their own shops benefits them in a way that people will get to know all about the company and what services they have to provide and would also know about the new items that they have coming up soon. Some companies like Tesco and JJB sell goods of various brands and this does not create a good image as they are continually switching between brands, and is quite hard to understand their business motives and aims.
NEXT also sell their products online, selling their products online helps them to reach and sell directly to a world-wide market which is one on their main objective to reach people around the globe, so this benefits the company so much in a way that using the net will give them a broad variety of customers that don’t have time to go to the shops and save time by shopping online.
Promotion- Then NEXT would take a look at the different ways they could promote the shop and the different things that they sell. NEXT could do promotions such as ‘buy a pair of khakis and get 25% off a polo t-shirt’, or buy a shirt and get trousers for half price’, things like that. This is equally important as the others because it will keep customers coming back and buying more of their products. NEXT is a world wide company and do not heavily invest in advertising their products and the company as a whole unlike others such as Burton. I think this has been done to reduce costs of promotion as NEXT tend to have around 9 sales every year and the customer base for each sale is indeed quite substancial. NEXT use their public website to sell their goods and provide services such as free delivery, as the use of the computer is an easy way to promote the business cheap and effectively.
Price Variables
- Suggested Retail Price
- Pricing Strategy
- Price Flexibility
- Price Discrimination
- Seasonal Pricing
Product Variables
- Brand Name
- Styling
- Quality
- Safety
- Packaging
Place Variables
- Warehousing
- Transportation
- Distribution Channels
- Order Processing
- Factory
Promotion Variables
- Advertising
- Sales Promotion
- Promotional Strategy
- Public Relations
- Publicity
Market Research
Market Research is a systematic, objective collection and analysis of data about a particular target market, competition, and/or environment. It always incorporates some form of data collection whether it is secondary research (often referred to as desk research) or primary research which is collected direct from a respondent.
Primary data
This is obtained from research such as questionnaires and interviews, and is intended to answer a specific question for instance how large the market is for the particular product.
It is important because the data that is collected by yourself would have meaning to you. If the data was secondary (existing data) then when you start to analyse it you would not have a clue on where to start as the information that you might require might not even exist and going through the secondary data will surely cost you valuable time.
The advantages of primary research data gathered;
The disadvantages of primary research data gathered;
Secondary data
This is information that has not been collected for a specific purpose but may help to answer a number of questions. It includes such sources as government statistics and trade publications.
As all my relevant company data was obtained from my own research I decided to add some old previously used data to aid me in my investigation on how to improve the company and what is needed to run it successfully.
The advantages of secondary research data gathered;
- Inexpensive
- Immediately available
- Less time consuming
The disadvantages of secondary research data gathered;
- May not be of any use
- Out dated
- Unreliable