The French Competition Council fined six very fancy hotels between 55,000 and 248,000 Euro for illegally colluding to maintain high prices. How high? Over E700 (about $850) per night. These are some of the finest hotels in the world and … Read More
Monthly Archives: November 2005
SAP Buy Khimetrics
ERP giant SAP picked up retail price optimization software maker Khimetrics in a deal worth an estimated $80-$100 million. SAP and Oracle have been acquiring companies in the retail software space recently, seeking to build up a complete retail offering. … Read More
What GM Should Do
Regular readers will know that I’ve been lambasting automakers’ “Employee Pricing” programs as counterproductive. (One even sent in a link to this article from investment site Motley Fool. When investment sites blame your pricing strategy, it’s well past time to … Read More
Study Finds Pricing Errors at Wal-Mart
The LA Times notes a study that found pricing accuracy in many Wal-Mart stores below federal requirements. The study was funded by a union critical of the Arkansas giant, but researchers found more under-charging than over-charging. (Most previous studies of … Read More
“Outsource Your Personal Life”–This Time, They’ve Gone Too Far
Last week I was on a plane, reading an inflight magazine. Between ads for beachfront condos, Las Vegas condos, and “Steroids for Your Career” was an exhortation to “Outsource Your Personal Life.” I started laughing loudly enough that I had … Read More
Sites Compete to Scoop Black Friday Prices
The New York Times (free registration required) had an article on price comparison sites, which are growing increasingly influential. These sites receive promotional materials from employees of companies like Wal-Mart or employees of the printing companies that product the materials. … Read More
Tokyo Hotel for $2 per Night
Not so fast, says online travel site Expedia after a pricing glitch gave some travelers extremely cheap rooms in some of the most expensive cities in the world. Apparently, a “technical error” in Hilton’s computer systems caused incorrect prices for … Read More
Amazon to Sell Pricing Data
In an intriguing move, Amazon is selling access to pricing information from its vast data warehouse in a project called Amazon Historical Pricing. The program allows users to submit queries through Amazon’s web services API to track the price and … Read More
The Best Pricing Book I’ve Read in a Long Time
I’ve been meaning to write a post about Moneyball for some time now, but I can never find the time to give it the treatment it truly deserves. Finally, I decided that giving it the following treatment is better than … Read More
Wal-Mart to Discount Heavily for Holiday Season
Word has (been?) leaked that Wal-Mart will discount key items in electronics and other departments starting on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. While Wal-Mart claims no knowledge of the leaks, after pricing details showed up on the internet in … Read More