Pricing Study 2018: Pricing Processes in Business Practice

Authors: Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof and Janina Wille (B.Sc.)

The current pricing study is the fourth edition of the empirical investigation of pricing processes in companies. Already in the years 2009, 2012 and 2015, the PFH Private University of Göttingen presented an empirical pricing study. The aim of the study is to examine the pricing processes of various companies of different sizes and from different industries. A special focus is placed on the formation of prices and pricing. In addition, we would like to highlight potentials in the individual pricing processes and show which remarkable approaches to pricing other companies can also apply.

What many companies still underestimate: the strongest profit driver is pricing, it therefore requires high attention. This statement was already confirmed in the previous pricing studies 2009 (Riekhof/Lohaus), 2012 (Riekhof/Wurr) and 2015 (Riekhof/Wa) and is again proven with the result of the current pricing study (Riekhof/Wille).

In most business areas, a business process-oriented perspective has prevailed in recent decades. In logistics and production, in quality management and order processing, in customer service and procurement, even in research and development, consistent process thinking is firmly anchored in most companies. This is not the case in the marketing area, in our estimation. The reasons for this can only be speculated. Perhaps this circumstance is related to the fact that many marketing topics are implemented more on a project basis and more standardized processes seem to set too narrow limits for the supposed creativity of marketing experts.

“Pricing is one of the famous four Ps in marketing. Due to its high relevance to results, it actually deserves the special attention of marketing managers. In practice, the opposite is regularly the case.”

– Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof

In which industry does your company operate?

Number of employees 2017 in Germany

What importance do pricing activities currently have in your companies?

Which of the following price-related measures will you implement in 2018?

Have you been able to enforce price increases in the past 12 months?

Do you enforce higher prices compared to your main competitors?

Do you undercut your main competitors in terms of prices?

How much effort do you put into gathering information about competitive prices?

What sources of information do you use to form a price for a product?

How high do you estimate the proportion of your products that you would describe as very price sensitive?

Is there an explicit, written pricing strategy in your company?

How important do you consider the existence of a documented pricing strategy?

Which price positioning applies to your company?

How often are prices changed in your company (general price adjustments)

How high do you estimate the proportion of your customers who know their needs very well and are looking for the cheapest offer (Discount-Shopper)

How high do you estimate the proportion of your customers who respond to attractively priced offers, even if the customers did not have such precise ideas of the offer beforehand? (Smart-Shopper)

How high do you estimate the proportion of your customers who primarily value convenient handling and good service and therefore do not pay so much attention to the price? (Convenient-Shopper)

How high do you estimate the proportion of your customers who are looking for special products or innovative solutions and are therefore willing to spend a little more? (Innovation or Lifestyle-Shopper)

How transparent is the price structure for your customers?

How complex is the price structure of your company?

What criteria are used in your company to differentiate prices? (Multiple answers possible)

How large are the deviations in your company between the official price specifications and the prices actually realized with the customers?

Where in your company is the operational pricing decision-making competence? (Multiple answers possible)

Does your company have a pricing department/a pricing manager? (by number of employees)

Does your company have a pricing department/a pricing manager? (by industry)

Are there price-related target agreements and incentives in your company?

For whom are pricing seminars conducted in your company?

How high do you estimate the profit potential that would result from improving the pricing processes in your company?

How high do you estimate the profit potential that would result from improving the pricing processes in your company? (by number of employees)

Is active price controlling practiced in your company?

Do you have further questions about our studies?

Feel free to contact us!

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