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
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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
Inflation in Food, Energy, Materials
Inflation is creeping up for manufacturers, according to this report on Purchasing.com. This may be good news for industry, as it indicates some degree of pricing power. On the consumer side, core inflation is very low (0.1% in September), but … Read More
SAP Offers Discounts to Siebel Customers
German software giant SAP is offering deep discounts to customers currently running customer relationship management (CRM) software from rival Siebel, following Oracle’s acqusition of Siebel. The move offers companies a way to migrate to SAP with up to 75% of … Read More
Samsung to Pay $300M Pricing-Fixing Fine
Samsung agreed to a $300M fine for price fixing in the DRAM market. “Competitors” Hynix and Infineon have already paid almost $350M in related fines between them. From a cynical perspective, this fines probably pale in comparison to the extra … Read More
Employee Pricing Superlatives Turn to Expletives
I feel like I’m beating a dead horse here, but it’s such an expensive dead horse that it deserves another post. Yes, GM and Ford announced sharp reductions in year-on-year September sales, canceling out gains from the Employee Pricing Programs … Read More
Microsoft Updates Software Assurance Program
The Redmond giant made several changes to its Software Assurance licensing program, under which users pay a subscription fee and receive upgrades for free. Microsoft made introduce SA in 2001, and despite the relatively high costs, managed to convince a … Read More
The Danger of Pushing Margin per Transaction too Far
Something to lighten up your Monday… This piece neatly illustrates the logical extreme of following the pricing consultant’s insistence that fewer transactions at higher margin is better.
Justice Dept Sues Realtors
An alert reader in New York City sent in a link to this Wall Street Journal article, U.S. Sues Realtors, Claims Web Rules Limit Discounting. The suit alleges illegal restriction of competition, which in turn costs consumers substantial amounts of … Read More
Big 3 Vow End to Employee Discounts
GM plans to end the popular discount program on September 30, while Ford and DaimlerChrysler will end their on October 3. The programs led to surging sales and cleared out 2005 inventory, but did little to boost the bottom line. … Read More