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Competition is the norm, not the exception in a free market - and that competition will affect how you price.

Just take a look at the UK grocery market and how it has become increasingly competitive in the past few years. The growing strength of discount giants like Aldi and Lidl have really shaken things up. Pound shops are also gaining market share and nibbling away at the precious margins of the big supermarkets.

Let's face it, we're not the only company offering Price Management and Configure Price Quote (CPQ) software, but we're bringing something special to the table that will set us apart from our competitors.

BlackCurve provides price management and configure price quote (CPQ) software. As mentioned in my earlier blog post detailing BlackCurve's story, many companies are still heavily reliant on spreadsheets and basic pricing strategies that are unknowingly holding them back from growing.

It's really not rocket science – in order to maximise your profits and stay ahead of the competition you know you have to price at the optimum level.

In order to achieve this, what your business needs is an accurate price management system (definitely not spreadsheets) – and the modern, accurate and most efficient solution to all your pricing demands is to invest in price list software.

During my time as a Sales Director in the software sector, I was increasingly coming across businesses (manufacturers, distributors, retailers and service providers) that were requiring more sophisticated tools to manage their pricing.

Come on, admit it - you may have made one or two pricing errors during your esteemed pricing career – but surely none as costly as those detailed below?

Do you have any nagging doubts that you might not be getting quite the optimum price for your products or services?  Are you confident you always utilise your skills, expertise and know-how to squeeze out those extra profits for your business?

 

Pricing is one of the four elements of the marketing mix, along with product, place and promotion. An effective pricing strategy is vital for companies who wish to achieve success by finding the price point where they can maximize sales and profits. Companies may use a variety of pricing strategies, depending on their own unique marketing goals and objectives – and also on which industry they represent.

Costs (direct or indirect) are the expenses that a business incurs in bringing a product or service to market. The selling price is the amount a customer pays for that product or service. The difference between the price that is paid and the cost that is incurred is the profit the business makes when the item sells. If a customer pays £10 for an item that costs the company £5 to produce and sell, the company makes a £5 profit.

Everyone knows that they will have to pay for a product or service at some point, it's just a question of how much. Recently, however, it has become noticable that customers are proving to be tougher negotiators, both B2C and B2B. When it comes to selling, pricing is much more involved than just sticking some numbers on your goods and hoping for the best.