Why You Should Subscribe to The Pricing Conundrum
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Why You Should Subscribe to The Pricing Conundrum
“Pricing is the moment of truth — all of marketing comes to focus in the pricing decision.” - E. Raymond Corey.
Welcome to The Pricing Conundrum, a newsletter written by me, Utpal Dholakia. If you are here reading this, chances are that you are interested in pricing, you’ve read one of my articles on pricing in Harvard Business Review, or seen one of my posts on LinkedIn about some aspect of pricing. I have also written two popular and well-reviewed books on pricing (so far), How to Price Effectively: A Guide for Managers & Entrepreneurs, and Priced to Influence, Sell & Satisfy. More are on the way.
Pricing strategy is fascinating because it is such an important part of business success yet it seems to be an afterthought or done rather poorly in so many companies. Pricing also tends to be one of the weakest links for many entrepreneurs. And for consumers, understanding the principles of pricing strategy is a route to become a smarter and wiser consumer. Learning about pricing strategy issues is useful to pretty much everyone, whether you are a manager, entrepreneur, business school student, or consumer.
As a subject, pricing is endlessly fascinating. It is an amalgamation of consumer psychology, microeconomics & marketing which throws up new phenomena and unintended consequences week in and week out. There’s always something new and interesting to study and learn from.
In writing pieces on The Pricing Conundrum, my goal is to provide you with the latest insights and tools to think about pricing strategy. I am relying on my two-plus decades of academic research and consulting experience in marketing and pricing to provide you with this knowledge.
Each piece on The Pricing Conundrum focuses on one pricing topic, a case study, a concept, a tool, or a pricing phenomenon. Here are some examples:
Understanding the difference between price level and price structure
How the iconic Bed Bath & Beyond coupon forged a retail brand for over 3 decades
Retail shoppers can negotiate the price of nearly anything - what this means for managers
What’s the difference between free and paid subscriptions?
Almost all future posts will be sent to free and paid subscribers. They will get archived as paid after a week or so. The full archive of articles, including tools, concepts, case studies, strategy, and analysis, is only available to paid subscribers.
If you’re currently a student or if you cannot pay for a subscription but would still like access, please send me an email. I will be happy to (oxymoronically) give you complimentary paid access.
If you’re a consultant or manager, I want to inform you and contribute to your professional pricing acumen. If you are an entrepreneur, I want to give you the confidence and the resources to make confident and successful pricing decisions. And if you are a consumer, I want you to be a smarter shopper.
Comments and feedback are always welcome, but no personal attacks or trolling, please. Sign up now so you don’t miss the next issue of The Pricing Conundrum.
If you find the content of The Pricing Conundrum to be useful, please tell your friends! If you’d like to access the archive, please consider supporting this newsletter with a paid subscription. I appreciate your support and patronage, and I am deeply grateful. - Utpal Dholakia