What are the Best Pricing and Distribution Strategies for Business Success?

What are the Best Pricing and Distribution Strategies for Business Success? | Sales and Marketing | Emeritus

A 2022 Firstguide report states that at least 70% of businesses worldwide migrated online in 2021, disrupting the balance in prevalent pricing and distribution strategies. This has resulted in Internet-only retailers being able to sell their products at much lower prices than their store counterparts. As businesses face severe competition across domains and transportation costs continue to rise, it’s time to rethink pricing strategies and protect revenue channels. Let’s learn how to approach this. 

How to Determine Product Pricing and Distribution

Here are the four primary steps to consider while setting up pricing and distribution strategies for products:

1. Fix a Specific MSRP

Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) is a price that the manufacturer recommends to retailers for each product after adding selling and manufacturing costs. MSRPs ensure stability in the market for both retailers and consumers and offer a steady pricing paradigm for business owners.

2. Find Out the Hidden Costs

Distributors increase the geographical area of a venture, ensuring that the products reach target consumers. However, there are many latent costs associated with distribution that range from the transportation of goods to storage costs. Even before the finished products exit the hands of distributors, these costs can shrink your profit margins. Hence it is important to be aware of all the hidden costs.

3. Note Each Step of the Distribution Ladder

There are many layers in the distribution chain such as producers, vendors, transportation companies, retailers—each of whom will carve out their own profits, thus adding to the hidden costs of distribution channels. Moreover, rising inflation determines the markups of each stakeholder in the distribution channels and these can vary drastically. 

To have a crystal clear idea of all hidden costs, one should include the overhead costs of all offline and online participants of the distribution process and strike a balance along the distribution chain. 

ALSO READ: 10 Wrong Pricing Strategies That are Costing Your Brand Money

4. Data-Driven Analysis

Data-informed pricing softwares will help you correctly gauge the net profit from each product after subtracting the unstable costs of fuel, and the granular costs of different distribution networks. 

Types of Pricing and Distribution Strategies & What is Right for Your Business

Here are some different pricing and distribution strategies you can deploy for your business:

Competitive Pricing

Also known as ‘Manufacturer-aligned pricing strategy’, this method sets the price of a product at the same level as quoted by competitors. Companies switch to competitive pricing when a product has been in the market for a long time and its pricing has already reached an equilibrium. New companies also use this strategy to de-risk their pricing decisions at the onset of the business.

Cost-Plus Pricing

This strategy comes into play when a fixed percentage or amount is added on top of the competitors’ price, giving you the selling price of a product or service. It is also called ‘mark-up pricing’.

Value-Based Pricing

This strategy places the onus of pricing on how consumers value a product or service rather than on the cost of developing it. Customer-centric pricing can be found in businesses such as designer-apparel companies. The build cost of designer clothes is almost the same as their non-designer counterparts. However, the perceived brand reputation of the designer shoots up the prices.

Volume-Based Pricing

The decision to sell products or services at zero or minimum profit allows you to sell as many units as possible. Since this type of strategic pricing depends on the volume of products being sold, it is used to gain a large market share. However, it also requires significant financial backing to absorb the losses due to this pricing and distribution strategy.

Penetration-Based Pricing

When a company offers a new product at a very low price to gain significant market share or to garner consumer attention, it is called penetration-based pricing. Even new firms use this tactic to build brand awareness—the underlying goal being aggressive marketing to push a major market share along the sales funnel.

What is Right for Your Business?

The post-pandemic online retail boom has deeply influenced the pricing and distribution strategies of companies. Diverse consumer demands, rising inflation, and economic uncertainty make it challenging to optimize a master plan that ticks all the boxes of long-term business goals. Thus, a data-driven mix of pricing decisions is your best chance to stand out amid intense competition.

ALSO READ: What is Product Strategy and How Does it Determine a Company’s Success

Pricing and Distribution Strategy: How Can You Improve Your Pricing

Here are some tips to make your pricing and distribution strategies robust in a climate of rapid technological shifts and innovative business models:

  • Break down the pricing strategy according to your business model and goals
  • Let market research and strong data analysis guide every step of pricing 
  • Make pricing directly proportional to product value 
  • Develop a strong understanding of the different market segments to help you remove the discrepancies between perceived value and actual product value
  • Align pricing with the ideas of the sales and marketing teams as they have authentic knowledge of your diversified consumer base
  • Deploy services such as delivery, additional information on products, and installation instructions, among others, that add value to the buy

Why Should Distributors Strategically Reposition Their Price List

Over the years, the market has evolved and so has the consumer. Powered by the internet and a variety of choices, consumers now have the ability to make informed buying decisions. With the dominance of value-based pricing strategies, distributors have to reposition their price lists and strong brand portfolios to dictate business profitability. Repositioning prices is more useful in e-commerce businesses as it helps avoid price wars with competitors which, in turn, hinders sales. 

Pricing and Distribution Strategies Examples

Pricing Strategy Examples

1. Geographical Pricing

Businesses customize pricing according to the demand and operational costs of products in different states. Steel and gasoline companies favor geographic pricing to accommodate transportation and fuel costs. In online shopping, the final rate of products varies depending on the geographical proximity of the customer’s address from the closest distribution warehouse.

2. Psychological Pricing

In this strategy, businesses tweak the language about pricing to grab the reader’s attention. For instance, ‘Buy one, get one free’ works better than ‘50% off on two items’. Moreover, the persuasive power of the number ‘9’ in pricing strategies has manufacturers pegging costs at $999 as opposed to its closest rounded-off figure of $1,000. 

ALSO READ: How Can Supply Chain Management Help to Future-Proof Your Business

Distribution Strategy Examples

1. Daily Livelihood Products: A Toothpaste Manufacturer

For regular household products, the aim is to deploy intensive distribution so that the product reaches as many customers as possible. Ranging from e-commerce websites to departmental stores to supermarkets, a toothpaste manufacturer will utilize all the distribution channels as a means to boost brand loyalty among consumers.

2. Exclusive Products: A Luxury Brand Watch Manufacturer

Any manufacturer of a high-end exclusive brand, such as a luxury watch, will limit the number of distribution outlets as a tactical strategy. Preserving its rarity as a brand will enable more control over all its pricing and distribution channels. 

Matching product features with consumer needs is important in shaping the effectiveness of customer-centric sales. Do check out Emeritus’ extensive courses on sales and marketing in order to learn how to align your pricing and distribution strategies with the continuously evolving market conditions. 

Write to us at content@emeritus.org

pricing and distribution strategies

About the Author

Content Writer, Emeritus Blog
Sneha is a content marketing professional with over four years of experience in helping brands achieve their marketing goals. She crafts research-based, engaging content, making sure to showcase a bit of her creative side in every piece she writes. Sneha spends most of her time writing, reading, or drinking coffee. You will often find her practicing headstands or inversions to clear her mind.
Read more

Courses on Sales and Marketing Category

Courses inDigital Marketing | Education Program  | Emeritus

London Business School Executive Education

Mastering Digital Marketing: SEM, SEO, Social Media and Beyond

10 Weeks

Online

Starts on: March 28, 2024

Courses inSales and Marketing | Education Program  | Emeritus

Kellogg Executive Education

Kellogg Accelerated Marketing Leadership Program

6 Months

Online

Last Date to Apply: March 28, 2024

Courses inSales and Marketing | Education Program  | Emeritus

Kellogg Executive Education

Omnichannel Marketing: Driving Customer Value & Business Growth

6 Weeks

Online

Last Date to Apply: March 28, 2024

US +1-606-268-4575
US +1-606-268-4575