Recap for Discussion of 16/11/2011

Pricing Continued (Date – 16/11/2011)
We started with the pricing assignment discussion, Dr. Ankush Sharma Sir congratulated all groups for their assignment work which was posted on blog.
Then the pricing discussion went on towards Skimming, some inputs from participants were counted such as, it is done for high prices, it is done for innovative products or services etc.

After this discussion we moved on to ‘Nirma’ as a brand. How it started, how it grew and what is current position, were the topics for discussion.
It started in 1969, when Surf was the only competitor and was a market leader. Still Nirma was successful its because of its pricing strategy. Now Nirma is 2400 million Dollars business with 15000 workforce with it.
The discussion then moved on to Maximum current profit, again the inputs from participants were counted as, it is for fashionable products.
e.g. Ra-One’s first day earnings. Pre-marketing was the concept used for it.
The discussion then moved to Maximum market share, where we talked about Nokia and Samsung, where again relative market share was the central concept. Apple was also discussed for some time, Dr. Ankush Sharma Sir commented that Apple is not mass marketing, it is specifically for the Apple fans.
We then moved to discuss Maximum market skimming, where it was regarded as dangerous for a firm to do so. We discussed Mont Blank as an example, location of its outlet in Inorbit Mall, Vashi.
The discussion then moved on towards Retail outlet war of D-Mart and Big Bazar in Kharghar. Where Dr.Ankush Sharma Sir provided a very much vital information that Vendor management of D-Mart is excellent and they are ready with the cheque when any vendor comes with finished goods.
We then moved towards various Pricing methods which are as follows,
- Product Line Pricing (e.g. Baggage Outlet)
- Discriminating Pricing (e.g. Airlines)
- Captive Product Pricing (e.g. Razor blade cartrides, videogames, Printer cartridges)
- Optional Product Pricing (e.g. refridgerator comes with icemakers, PC comes with software, laptop case etc.)
- Going Rate Pricing (e.g. Barber prices in Navi Mumbai)
- Convenience Based Pricing (e.g. Maxus Theatre)
- Byproduct Pricing (e.g. Helmet on bike purchase)
- Product Bundle Pricing (Resorts are pricing their vacation Packages including Air fares, Stay, Entertainment etc.)
Between Discriminating pricing and Captive product pricing we had a long discussion about World cup details about the discriminating prices of advertisements per ten seconds of various brands.
Base rates- 5.5Lacs/10 seconds
Main sponsors gave 70 crore to 85 crore Rupees for World cup, Middle level sponsors gave 55 crore rupees while subordinate sponsors gave 35 crore rupees.
Total 77 brands pumped in their marketing efforts.
For the final match there was only 15% inventory slots of advertisements kept reserve for discrimination of prices. 24Lacs/ 10 seconds was the rate at the time of final on 2nd April, 2011. Some brands were ready to pay even 45 Lacs/ 1 seconds but since inventory was unavailable, it was not carried out.