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The French retail group Carrefour presents itself as a fighter against hidden and unjustified price increases from a trade perspective. Products are currently being marked in its markets that cost the same with less content.

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

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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

Under the title "Pricing increases its importance", the trade journal of the food industry extensively covers the current, now fifth edition of the empirical study of the Private University of Göttingen (PFH).

Food Newspaper reports on Pricing Study 2023

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Under the title “Pricing increases its importance”, the trade journal of the food industry extensively covers the current, now fifth edition of the empirical study of the Private University of Göttingen (PFH). After 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2018, pricing processes in business practice have been analyzed again in 2023. The study by pricing expert Professor Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof and Lukas Breustedt shows that companies attach greater importance to strategic pricing and the topic has gained relevance compared to previous studies.

Particularly due to a series of challenges and resulting requirements, such as supply shortages and unusually high inflation rates, this development has been accelerated. However, not to the extent that the experts had expected. Given the requirements of inflation pricing, it was expected that the importance would increase much more, says Riekhof, one of the authors of the study. Only just under a quarter of all surveyed company representatives rated the relevance of strategic pricing as “very high”.

More about the study “Pricing processes in business practice 2023 – Riekhof/Breustedt”:
https://www.unicconsult.com/pricing-studie-2023-pfh-private-hochschule-goettingen-legt-neue-empirische-untersuchung-von-pricing-prozessen-in-unternehmen-vor/

The Food Newspaper (LZ) picked up on the current pricing study of the PFH Private University of Göttingen in a post on June 13.

Food Newspaper reports on PFH Pricing Study 2023

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The Food Newspaper (LZ) picked up on the current pricing study of the PFH Private University of Göttingen in a post on June 13. Pricing expert Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof and Lukas Breustedt had examined pricing processes in business practice in the spring of 2023 and interviewed companies from various industries.

The LZ headlines “Pricing is becoming more important” and explains that supply chain problems and inflation have led to pricing being more important for some companies today than it was a few years ago. Nevertheless, pricing is of very high importance for only about a quarter of the companies surveyed.

You can read the article in the Food Newspaper via the following link (paywall):
Company survey: Pricing is becoming more important

The complete Pricing Study 2023: Pricing processes in business practice:
https://www.unicconsult.com/referenz/pricing-studie-2023-pricing-prozesse-in-der-unternehmerischen-praxis/

In a guest contribution in the Food Newspaper, Prof. Hans-Christian Riekhof illuminates the topic of instore navigation in retail. He had previously asked experts about the status of instore navigation in retail.

Guest contribution in Food Newspaper: Instore navigation offers more than just orientation

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In a guest contribution in the Food Newspaper, Prof. Hans-Christian Riekhof illuminates the topic of instore navigation in retail.
With the help of this digital technology, which allows customers to search for products and further information via their smartphone, retailers want to improve their customers’ satisfaction.

But in addition to orientation, the technologies of instore navigation offer many more possibilities, writes Riekhof. Thus, the trade also benefits from a number of advantages: in addition to positive effects on profitability with sales growth, it also learns more about what is happening on the sales floor. With regard to expectations of the use of technology from the perspective of experts in food retailing and other areas of retail, Riekhof conducted a survey among experts in retail.

Hagebaumarkt uses excellent app for instore navigation

Some key results of the (not representative) survey are presented by Riekhof in the guest contribution. He thus provides an insight into how the status of instore navigation is assessed in retail today. Finally, the expert makes a brief assessment of the extent to which – unlike in e-commerce – important aspects of digitization have arrived in traditional retail. The Hagebaumarkt in Neumünster has excellently implemented the digitization of its stationary retail business. With the recently awarded WIGGI app, developed by locandis, a company specializing in location-based marketing and instore navigation solutions, an indoor navigation is active that makes all 60,000 products of the hagebaumarkt easily findable via integrated product search. In addition, the product availability and daily price information can already be viewed at home via the app. Furthermore, the hagebaumarkt app allows a direct digital dialogue with each customer.

Hans-Christian Riekhof is, among other things, Professor of International Marketing at the PFH Private University of Göttingen and CEO and shareholder of locandis GmbH.

Further links

You can read the detailed article in the Food Newspaper here as a pdf:
https://www.unicconsult.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LZ-Gastbeitrag_Studie-Instore-Navigation_1221.pdf

More about the excellent WIGGI app of the Hagebaumarkt:
https://www.unicconsult.com/hagebaumarkt-app-locandis-fuer-indoor-navigation-ausgezeichnet/

The Food Newspaper currently reports on the recently introduced system of instore navigation at Hagebau. With this technology, controlled via a smartphone app, customers can find their way around the hardware store better.

Food Newspaper Reports on Instore Navigation at Hagebau

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The Food Newspaper currently reports on the recently introduced system of instore navigation at Hagebau. With this technology, controlled via a smartphone app, customers can find their way around the hardware store better.

As reported, customers at Hagebau dealer Wigger from Neumünster can be guided through the market to the desired product by instore navigation. This is linked to offers and additional information that customers receive directly on their mobile phones at the shelf. This was realized by the company locandis from Hamburg, which specializes in technology, conception and strategies for solutions around location-based marketing, indoor navigation, digital customer cards and more.

The Food Newspaper refers in its article to the finding of experts that the technology is still waiting for its breakthrough. Thus, Prof. Hans-Christian Riekhof, Mathieu Grüneklee and Leon Reutel in 2021 conducted a study for the Private University of Göttingen (PFH) among executives in retail on the topic of instore navigation in German retail. The enormous potential of the technology for stationary retail also became clear.

Further links

Full article in the Food Newspaper (Paywall):
https://www.lebensmittelzeitung.net/tech-logistik/nachrichten/per-kunden-app-hagebau-lotst-per-instore-navigation-161283?crefresh=1

Hardware store: Instore Navigation offers targeted finding of products:
https://www.unicconsult.com/baumarkt-instore-navigation-bietet-zielsicheres-finden-von-produkten/

Article on the homepage of the company locandis:
https://www.locandis.de/instore-navigation-mit-der-app-durch-den-baumarkt/

The PFH Private University of Göttingen recently published a study on instore navigation in retail:
“Instore Navigation in German Retail” (Riekhof, Grüneklee, Reutel, 2021)

Until now, dm relied on permanently low prices. Now the drugstore market leader is changing course and raising the prices of many of its products. The background is a change in pricing strategy. In an industry dominated by fierce price competition, the price swing is causing surprise, but also irritation.

dm surprises with changed pricing strategy

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The Lebensmittelzeitung reports (Paywall) that surveys have shown that the price of more than 1000 products has been increased in the past three weeks. This applies especially to the online shop, but adjustments have also been made in some stores. This includes popular products like Balea soap, Kneipp shower gel, and Ariel detergent. The extent of this surprises, writes the Wirtschaftswoche. Although prices at dm have never been static, there have usually only been occasional shifts.

Until now, dm relied on permanently low prices. Now the drugstore market leader is changing course and raising the prices of many of its products. The background is a change in pricing strategy. In an industry dominated by fierce price competition, the price swing is causing surprise, but also irritation.

Unlike competitor Rossmann, who drastically cuts prices on branded products and own brands every week to attract customers to the stores, the drugstore giant operated with “permanently low prices”. Also, to keep other aggressively acting competitors at a distance. Aldi, Lidl and Co. have been poaching in the territory of the drugstore markets for some time and offer well-known products like Nivea, Pril, Pantene and Pampers at discount prices. Online giants like Amazon and Zalando are turning the market upside down – the fiercely contested market is becoming more difficult.

dm goes on the offensive in a fiercely contested market

“With the new pricing policy, dm is moving away from its claim to price leadership”, explains an unnamed trade manager. The decision was made to realign the pricing strategy in-store and online, confirmed CEO Harsch to LZ. The new pricing strategy means different price levels depending on the location of the stores and the competitive situation on site. Depending on which dm store customers shop in or whether consumers order online, they will find different prices in the future. Stores that are close to discounters or other direct competitors are supposed to offer lower prices than stores that have little competition. The individual markets should decide independently about the pricing in the regional environment.

Uniform prices are not always the optimal strategy

For pricing expert Professor Hans-Christian Riekhof, this is not really a surprising step. “That uniform (and thus undifferentiated) prices are economically anything but optimal, readers of our Pricing Newsletter have known for a long time. Some may also remember their own business studies, where a long time ago there might have been talk of price differentiation.

If the drugstore chain dm now moves away from the strategy of uniform prices, then obviously the realization has prevailed that the willingness to pay of customers is obviously not always the same. “Regional differences in purchasing power, temporally different preferences or even superficial product modifications can be used to implement price differentiations”, says Riekhof. “But what should be kept in mind: the increasing complexity of pricing must be reflected in internal processes and systems. Complexity to the outside is ok, to the inside rather not.”

Photo: Kettler Communication

Further links:

Wirtschaftswoche:
https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/handel/neue-strategie-dm-verabschiedet-sich-vom-einheitspreis/24960714.html

Fokus
https://www.focus.de/finanzen/news/unternehmen/konkurrenz-koennte-nachziehen-drogeriekette-dm-aendert-preisstrategie-mehr-als-1000-produkte-werden-jetzt-teurer_id_11091617.html

Stern
https://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/news/dm-erhoeht-die-preise—das-steckt-hinter-der-neuen-strategie-8882910.html

Chip.de
https://www.chip.de/news/Viele-Produkte-ploetzlich-teurer-Drogerie-Riese-dm-aendert-die-Preisstrategie_172673785.html

Lebensmittel Zeitung (Paywall)
https://www.lebensmittelzeitung.net/handel/Kurswechsel-dm-aendert-Preisstrategie-142296?utm_source=%2Fmeta%2Fnewsletter%2Flzammorgen&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=nl4709-basic&utm_term=dc7d39d780fb1e3ac6d007ebfe83e0cc

The Food Newspaper, Germany's trade journal for industry executives, has now published an article on the empirical study of the Digital Customer Cards of PFH Göttingen.

Food Newspaper Picks Up Study on Customer Cards

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The Food Newspaper, Germany’s leading trade journal for industry executives, has picked up the study on the Digital Customer Cards of PFH Göttingen. The article once again makes it clear that digital loyalty cards offer attractive prospects to the retail sector as instruments of modern customer loyalty. However, their potential is currently still underestimated.

The empirical study, developed and conducted by pricing expert and marketing professor Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof and Stefan Brinkhoff, shows that retailers can get to know their customers much better with digital loyalty cards than before.

Acquiring new customers is usually more expensive than retaining existing ones. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that a lot of energy and resources are used for appropriate customer loyalty instruments. In retail, these are particularly plastic customer cards, which have to fight for a place in the consumer’s wallet. In view of increasing digitization, Riekhof and Brinkhoff wondered whether the digital version in the form of IOS and Android apps will prevail.

Instore Navigation with digital customer cards offers further advantages

The article published on May 11 in the Food Newspaper extensively discusses the most important aspects of the current use and benefits of customer cards – analog and digital in comparison. For example, the use depends heavily on the card function: for more than half of the respondents, the sending of coupons and offers, the collection of points and personalized product recommendations are in focus. Instore Navigation, on the other hand, is far behind. It is noticeable that digital navigation in large stores, such as DIY stores and self-service department stores, can significantly improve actual use and measure surprisingly high sales increases. Another interesting side result: Like in a Google search, retailers could evaluate which product category, brand and product were searched for by customers how often.

Read the detailed study at:
https://www.unicconsult.com/referenz/einsatz-traditioneller-und-digitaler-kundenkarten-in-handel-systemgastronomie-und-tourismus/

Food Newspaper online
www.lebensmittelzeitung.net