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07-2024_Pricing-News: Same price everywhere in LEH … the Handelsblatt and the discount lie

Kostet Nutella tatsächlich überall das Gleiche? Dass Lebensmittelpreise überall bis auf den Cent identisch sind, behauptete jedenfalls das Handelsblatt – unter Bezug einer fragwürdigen Studie.

Pricing-Newsletter No. 83 (2024): Options for Time-Based Price Differentiation

Wir akzeptieren es ganz offensichtlich: morgens zu tanken ist teurer als am Abend, und die Flugpreise steigen, wenn wir später buchen. Was wir aber auch feststellen: nicht immer wird eine zeitbezogene Preisdifferenzierung von den Kunden wirklich akzeptiert. Was man dazu wissen sollte, erfahren Sie in diesem Newsletter.

Jetzt kostenlosen Zugang erhalten zu allen unseren Pricing Studien, zu unseren Pricing News und zu unseren mehr als 70 Pricing-Newslettern, mit denen Sie zum Pricing Experten werden können.

Retail Group Carrefour Practices Pricing Fairness and Takes a Stand Against Shrinkflation

The French retail group Carrefour presents itself as a fighter against hidden and unjustified price increases from a trade perspective. As reported by the food newspaper, products are currently being marked in its markets that cost the same with less content – this is then referred to as shrinkflation.

The retailer is therefore labeling a number of relevant foods with stickers that warn consumers of the hidden price increases. This once again shows that the trade is ready to confront the manufacturers and at the same time strives to present itself as an advocate of consumers.

“A similar direction was recently taken by the Penny campaign with the headline ‘The true costs’, in which a few products were given significantly higher prices for a limited time to express the hidden and indirect environmental costs. A remarkable approach to achieve media attention”, says Professor Hans-Christian Riekhof.

Links:

Read the full article in the food newspaper here (subscription):
https://www.lebensmittelzeitung.net/handel/nachrichten/preisstreit-carrefour-warnt-vor-versteckten-preiserhoehungen-173339

Dispute over Pricing: Edeka and the Delivery Boycott by Brand Manufacturers

Germany’s largest retailer Edeka wants to remain steadfast in the fight over the pricing of brand manufacturers. Currently, there are 17 corporations that do not supply Edeka, said CEO Markus Mosa. According to a current report by the news channel ntv from April 26, 2023, it is said that the “greed” of the international food corporations is not yet subsiding. Suppliers to the Edeka association, which consists of 11,000 stores, include corporations such as Procter & Gamble, Mars and Pepsi as well as parts of Henkel, Schwartau and Unilever.

The pricing of the brands is even less comprehensible than last year, as many raw materials for detergents, but also wheat, oils and fats have become cheaper again, says Mosa. The branded goods industry maximizes its results and prefers to forego delivery. The background is a dispute that has been smoldering for months between retailers and leading brand manufacturers over prices.

It’s about power issues: Who can assert themselves in the pricing strategy?

“Constructive cooperation between suppliers and trade looks different”, says pricing expert Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof. “When a retail group reports that there is a delivery boycott by 17 well-known brand manufacturers, then this is a phenomenon that we do not encounter every day – and that consumers also register in view of the gaps on the shelf.”

Obviously, one of the parties feels disadvantaged and cannot agree with the prices or conditions offered – there is no negotiation result. Riekhof: “In negotiation management, this is called ‘BATNA’ (Best Alternative to No Agreement). It’s about power issues: who has the upper hand and can ultimately assert their ideas?”

What do the pricing strategies for own brands look like?

Retailers like Edeka have already started years ago to make themselves more independent of the brand manufacturers by building up their own brands. However, predominantly in the lower price ranges, Riekhof continues. He recommends that retailers urgently review the pricing strategy for their own brands.

“From our pricing projects for retail, we know that the price gap between the retail brand and the manufacturer brand can be significantly reduced from the customer’s perspective. Here are untapped profit potentials for retail. Good that the manufacturers force the trade to review their price architecture.”

(Read also Riekhof on Pricing on the subject of price architecture).

Links

Read full article:
https://amp.n-tv.de/wirtschaft/Edeka-meldet-Lieferboykott-von-17-Herstellern-article24079771.html

Photo:
Tara Clark/pexels.de

The Digitization of Stationary Retail – Prof. Riekhof on the PFH Podcast

In the current episode of the podcast “Beyond the Knowledge”, Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof, CEO of the company locandis and Professor of General Business Administration at PFH Göttingen, talks about the opportunities of digitization in retail and presents the results of a current expert survey on the theme of Instore Navigation. According to Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof, the three major challenges for trade in the coming years are:

  • to realize an experience-oriented and high-quality design of the store areas
  • to improve delivery capability and logistical processes.
  • to drive digitization also in stationary retail and to communicate with customers not only face-to-face, but also via smartphone.

In an expert survey, Prof. Riekhof examined the digitization of retail. What are the major challenges for retail and how will the marketing concepts of retail develop in the future? These and other topics are discussed in the third episode of the PFH Podcast “Beyond the Knowledge”.

You can access the entire podcast episode here and then listen to it on all common podcast channels.

More about the company locandis:
www.locandis.de

Instore Navigation: Expert Survey Results Report

An expert survey on the topic of Instore Navigation was conducted as part of the ERDF-funded DeepNav project by the PFH Private University of Göttingen. The results are now available.

Background: In contrast to online retail, digitization in stationary retail is progressing more slowly. This raises the question of a consistent implementation of accompanying digital communication concepts with the customer on site, especially for stationary store concepts. Instore Navigation, controlled by company-specific apps on smartphones, offers a range of options to practically support customers and improve the shopping experience, such as by facilitating product search.

Among other things, it was examined what contribution Instore Navigation makes in large-scale stationary retail to establish a digital customer dialogue on site. Can this generate exciting insights for retail? What role do app-based customer cards play, with which customers can be delivered promotional information directly at the shelf via push messages? How is this topic area assessed by experts, from the perspective of the companies?

The study basically shows two things: retail is at most at the beginning of a digitization of the customer experience in the stores, but there are also very concrete considerations visible on how to integrate Instore Navigation into this digitization process.

The study was created by Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof, Professor of International Marketing at the PFH Private University of Göttingen, supported by the PFH graduates Mathieu Grüneklee and Leon Reutel.

Here you can read the results:

Further links: