Value Maps For CPG Pricing Decisions (Part 1)

Image shows a brown unrolled map with a destination point marked in red and yellow

What are pricing value maps? Pricing value maps are visualization tools that marketers and consulting firms use to illustrate several linked points: Pricing strategy should ultimately be linked to “value,” as measured by the perception of consumers. More specifically, a buyer’s willingness-to-pay (WTP) is driven primarily by her perceived value (benefits) from buying and using […]

Pricing Power: Part 1 – Searching For A Useful Definition for 2023

Image shows business man with pink blinders about to head over the edge of the cliff while holding a pink book and a sign reading "Right Way". In the distance, a blue sign points the opposite direction away from the cliff edge.

“Pricing Power” has become a household term in the last couple of years, as the importance of pricing was revealed and elevated in every corner of the economy. It has also become, unhelpfully, a bit of a loose buzzword that can become limiting and rather … disempowering. 2023 and beyond will require a better understanding […]

P.T. Barnum On The Importance of Promotion … Does It Have To Be Price Promotion?

Image shows a framed quote attributed to P.T. Barnum "Without promotion, something terrible happens ... nothing!"

Illustrating the point It’s the make-or-break holiday season for retailers and consumer brands, and the words “promotional environment” are everywhere. Categories like footwear and apparel, which are both seasonal and often discretionary, seem to be particularly sensitive to “how promotional” to get in this environment. Even brands like Lululemon, who take pride in a “no […]

Value Based Pricing, Buffett’s Quote & Crypto

Image shows a framed quote "Price is what you pay. Value is what you get," attributed to Warren Buffett

Illustrating the point One word: Crypto.  It presents us with quite the value based pricing conundrum. There has always been the uncomfortable moment when this or that crypto believer (or pusher) is asked to explain what gives Value to crypto assets (aside from psychological failings of human nature like greed, fear-of-missing-out (FOMO), pyramid schemes, and […]

Trupanion’s Price Increase For Pet Insurance Barks of Desperation

Summary   Note: This article was published on SeekingAlpha, the world’s largest investor site, on November 14, 2022. At the time of submission, the last closing price (as of Friday close on November 11) was $64.86. Trupanion has higher loss ratios and higher premiums than its competitors, which will squeeze it between a rock and […]