A reader sent in a link to this NYTimes article on airlines beaming personalized travel deals to desktop applications. Southwest’s application is called Ding, and it sends personalized travel deals to hundreds of thousands of users every day. Currently, it … Read More
Author Archives: Reuben Swartz
In Console Wars, Savvy Pricing Shots
New product launches always involve (ok, should always involve) careful price planning. The market for video game consoles highlights various aspects of pricing strategy quite nicely. Companies must balance profit (or loss) per unit, with platform profits on games and … Read More
Hotels Look to Floating Rate Contracts
What could be more dynamic than the price of hotel rooms? Well, a lot of hotel room prices are set in negotiations with corporate travel managers. These rates tend to be fixed. So the buyer could pay more than rack … Read More
Employee Pricing Hard to End
Edmunds reports that the Big 3 are extending their employee pricing programs through the rest of the summer, noting “It’s hard to say who’s more addicted to employee pricing; the shoppers or the sellers?” The most interesting aspect of this … Read More
Aggressive Pricing Important for Real Estate?
One of the biggest pricing decisions most people make is usually outsourced. When selling a home, most of us rely on real estate agents to set the price for us and guide us in negotiating with buyers. Certainly, the average … Read More
Comments on The Tyranny of Averages
Welcome newsletter readers. For folks coming directly to the blog, this is a space to comment on a recent newsletter article about the danger of averages.
Gasoline Pricing “In the Zone”
The Greenwich Citizen posted an editorial the other day calling for an end to zone pricing. “Zone pricing” means carving up markets into small zones, based on demographics and other information, and varying prices according to zones. Generally, zones with … Read More
Pricing Pressure Continues to Pound Airlines
I read an interesting article on airline pricing over the weekend. Much of it is not surprising– customers want low prices, and they get them where there is competition. Most airlines have a cost structure that makes it almost impossible … Read More
GM Reports Loss
Folks waiting to see how the Employee Pricing for All program turned out probably already know the answer. GM posted a Q2 loss of $286M, with a $1.2B loss in North America.
Bear Stearns Cites Pricing In Anheuser-Busch Downgrade
Bear Stearns downgraded the beer giant, noting that they are “highly skeptical of the company’s aggressive price discount strategy.” AB’s aggressive pricing is confusing to me. They have generally enjoyed a small but significant price advantage over Miller and other … Read More