I’ve been meaning to write about some good pricing examples, and I found one at the airport yesterday morning (way too early). The menu read something like this: 2 Breakfast Tacos (Egg, Cheese & Potato).……6.692 Breakfast Tacos with Bacon ……………………..7.492 … Read More
Author Archives: Reuben Swartz
Why Low Prices May Miss the Mark
There’s nothing like humor to get a point across. Dilbert is usually the king of office humor, but this Foxtrot strip says something important about how we often think about pricing.
GM Cuts SUV Prices
In a rare pricing move, GM made large price cuts in its SUV line in the middle of a model year without altering incentives. This will hit GM’s profit-per-vehicle pretty hard, but also indicates how competitive the segment has become, … Read More
Music Industry Attempts to Remove Life Support
As I noted earlier, the music industry is desparately trying to alienate its customers. For some reason, it took Steve Jobs to come in and create a usable way for people to download music and let the labels make money. … Read More
Retailers, Clothing Makers Fight Over Lost Margin
After a brutal holiday retailing season, stores are asking clothing makers to pay “markdown” money, to cover margin lost to heavy discounts. The clothing makers say the stores discounted too aggressively, but most have little choice but to pay. When … Read More
Couldn’t Ask for Better Timing
7-11 selects KSS PriceNet to manage gasoline pricing. I had no idea this would get announced when posted earlier. See the press release here.
Really Cheap Gas
An unfortunate gas station owner in Kansas accidentally sold gas at 19 cents a gallon. He lost a couple of thousand dollars due to computer glitch that let customers buy the underpriced gas with a credit card while the station … Read More
Using Pricing to Kill Your Industry
An alert reader sent me this piece called “The Buy-Rent Scam” about the music subscription pricing model. Essentially, you pay a monthly fee, and as long as you pay that fee, you have access to the company’s music library. It’s … Read More
Online Pricing Errors: Who Pays?
A court in Singapore handed down a decision ruling that an etailer did not have to honor prices posted by mistake. (See the story at CNet.) The judge ruled that the etailer could get off the hook because customers deliberately … Read More
Blockbuster’s “End of Late Fees” Program Draws NJ Lawsuit
CNN reported yesterday that the Attorney General of New Jersey is suing Blockbuster, Inc., accusing the movie rental giant of consumer fraud. Blockbuster touts an end to late fees, which previously made up a big portion of its profits. High … Read More