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GM Continues Price Push

Auto giant GM will be lowering sticker prices for ’06, on the heels of its Employee Pricing for All program. For years, GM was happy to skim off customers who were willing to pay close to sticker price, while offering … Read More

Not a Problem My Clients are Likely to Have

Today’s Dilbert.

Tobacco Company Wins Pricing Lawsuit– Broad Implications

A judge threw out a lawsuit brought against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., saying their wholesaler discount program did not violate fair pricing laws. RJR offers discounts not based on the volume of business through a particular wholesaler, but based on … Read More

Oracle Updates per-CPU Licensing on Sun

As I’ve noted (Hardware Makes Software Pricing Harder and Software Pricing Followup: Fractional CPU Pricing) technical advances are muddying the waters for enterprise software vendors. Until now, Oracle had insisted that customers purchase licenses for every CPU on a Sun … Read More

GM Offers Employee Pricing To All

In a drastic move, the struggling automaker announced that anyone can get employee pricing discounts between June 1 and July 5. The discount applies across the entire model line with exception of the Corvette and certain GMC trucks. This is … Read More

Time to Raise Prices?

Inc. Magazine asks the question this month in an excellent article by Alison Stein Wellner which I recommend to anyone, not just small businesses. She talks about the cost-plus trap, avoiding commoditization, objective and perceived value, and touches on intelligent … Read More

Asda to Abandon EDLP

Wal-Mart owned retailing giant Asda is stepping back from every day low pricing (EDLP) in an effort to compete with Tesco and Sainsbury. Wal-Mart upended the conventional wisdom on retail promotional strategy by avoiding sales and coupons. This eliminated the … Read More

Price of Music Trends Downward

How do you price art? (And is Britney Spears really an artist?) The way the major music companies have answered this question has been a common topic in my newsletter and in earlier posts. Summary: since the consumer had few … Read More

If Airlines Sold Paint

An Oldie but Goodie– this one is all over the ‘net. I’m not sure who the original author is. Buying paint from a hardware store Customer Hi, how much is your paint? Clerk We have regular quality for $12 a … Read More

Software Pricing Followup: Fractional CPU Pricing

Turns out IBM offers pricing based on the fraction of the CPU you actually use. (This requires licensing some compliance software from Big Blue’s Tivoli unit.) This can help push customers onto larger, higher-margin servers, while also reducing customer’s administration … Read More