This is one of my favorite maxims for companies that say they can’t keep up with business. (Granted, it’s a great problem to have.) Seth Godin phrases it slightly differently, writing “scarcity is a choice” in a great post on Apple’s poor handling of scarcity around the launch of iPhone 3G. The basic gist is [...]
Here’s an interesting pricing model for t-shirts. 200nipples (yes, even the name is, umm, remarkable) sells limited edition runs of 100 tshirts. The first shirt costs $1, the second $2, all the way up to $100. This has the nice effect of rewarding your most loyal fans, who presumably will get some pretty cheap shirts, [...]
In last week’s post How to Raise Prices, I referenced two interesting articles on techniques for raising prices, and also suggested using unbundling to differentiate between customers who want maximum value and customers who want minimum price. Today, let’s look at three interesting price increases– Oracle’s list price increases, Apple’s iPhone price “decrease”, and airline [...]
When you buy in bulk, you typically get a better deal. On a per-unit basis, it’s cheaper to buy a 32-pack of Coca Cola at Costco than a single can in a convenience store. The same concept applies in industrial manufacturing, software licensing, and other industries. Sometimes, however, the buying more will cost you more, [...]
Although I’ve said before that with luxury items, the price is the value, I’m still occasionally astounded. Now along comes one of the most absurd items I’ve ever seen. Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome created a watch they call “Night & Day.” Why do they call it that? I’m glad you asked. Because it doesn’t actually [...]
For many people watching the Elliot Spitzer scandal unfold, the shocking part of the story was not that a powerful politician went to a prostitute. That seems almost retro these days. What seemed jaw-dropping was the amount of money Spitzer was paying out. Well, it turns out that the world’s oldest profession knows a thing [...]
Luxury vendors have long known that high price is part of their appeal. Not the price per se, but the exclusivity that comes with it. Like a peacock’s tail, the conspicuous consumption of goods that lack any practical purpose is a display of status, which has a powerful draw on the human psyche. New research [...]
A French court ruled that Amazon’s free shipping policy violates a law that forbids booksellers from discounting more than 5% off list price. Rather than stopping the practice, Amazon has upped the ante, continuing the policy in the face of a €1,000 per day fine, and soliciting customers to sign a petition in favor of [...]
As you may have noticed, the quantity and quality of posts has suffered since my writers have gone on strike. But like The A Daily Show, we’re back. Fittingly, when Jon Stewart returned to the studio last week, he had some things to say about pricing. The writers’ strike is mainly around residual payments on [...]
According to PNC, the price of the “12 Days of Christmas” (Christmas Price Index, or CPI) rose 3.1%, driven by the rising price of gold and the minimum wage hike, which increased the cost of maids-a-milking. The total cost of the 12 Days of Christmas hit an all-time high of $19,507.19. If you buy all [...]
