Raise Price to Improve Revenues and Margins
CHOICE 1 OBJECTIVE: RAISE PRICE WITH NO CHANGE IN PERFORMANCE AND COST
CHOICE 2 ISOLATE SEGMENTS: DUE TO A UNIQUE CONVENIENCE
CHOICE 3 COMPONENTS: CHANGE THE LIST PRICE ON SUPPORT PRODUCT
| No. | SIC | Year | Notes |
| 1 | 3579 | 2003 | Replacement cartridges for the Dell machine cost $29.95 for black ink and $34.95 for color ink. Cartridges for the comparable HP machines start at $17.99 for black ink and $21.99 for color. |
| 2 | 4512 | 1998 | On Feb. 1, American will raise the number of frequent-flier miles required for first-class and business-class international tickets. |
| 3 | 4512 | 2004 | Continental Airlines announced plans to boost most of the fees it was charging coach passengers who exchange miles for upgrades to first-class on international flights. |
| 4 | 4813 | 1995 | AT&T has notified regulators that it intends to increase prices of some services to generate money. Under the plan, international direct dial calls from the US to 10 countries would increase by 6% to 15%. |
| 5 | 4813 | 1995 | Competition over pay phones has made prices soar. Even AT&T charges 65% more than in 1984 for a 10-minute call from an LA pay phone to NY. Its operator-assistance charges have risen, too. |
| 6 | 4813 | 1997 | AT&T has been raising its basic rates in the past couple of years. More than half of AT&T's customers still pay high basic rates, apparently unaware of, or uninterested in, cheaper plans. |
| 7 | 5200 | 2006 | Duane Reade sought help from DemandTec's software to better price its diapers. The software suggested that the drugstore price diapers according to age, newborn sizes were more expensive while big kid pull-ups were less so. This boosted diaper sales and revenue for the drug store. The software realized that parents of newborns are far less price-sensitive than parents of older children. The drugstore now uses the software to set prices on two-thirds of its products. |
| 8 | 5541 | 2006 | The discount dynasty in Wyoming, run by the Call family, keeps the gasoline cheap. In May 2004, iFuel opened for business, charging 10 cents a gallon less than other discounters. iFuel would operate by automated kiosks, cutting costs by having motorists use the Internet to pay with bank transfers. Its main rivals, Flying J and Maverick, at first lowered their prices to compete. Then they discovered that wasn't necessary because Evanston residents didn't seem to be flocking to the new cut-rate station. For the first six months, iFuel sold just 800 or 900 gallons a day, less than half its break-even level. Many town residents weren't yet on the Internet, and they appeared baffled by the station's sign, emblazoned with the company Web address. |
| 9 | 6021 | 1985 | In just four years – from 1979 to 1983 – most of the banks nationwide doubled their charges. |
| 10 | 6021 | 1991 | Most loans still do carry a bevy of fees for documentation, "commitment" of the funds and the like, all of which have been jacked up in the past year. Competition's put a lid on that rise, though. |
| 11 | 6021 | 1999 | Credit card fees are up 160% since 1994. |
| 12 | 7011 | 1998 | Hotel laundry fees have hit an all-time high, and are typically three to four times more than laundry costs in the non-lodging world. |
| 13 | 7370 | 1998 | Microsoft announced a raise in monthly rate for unlimited use of WebTV, to $24.95 from $19.95. |
| 14 | 7372 | 2008 | Two of the biggest makers of business software have raised prices, a sign that consolidation in the industry may be easing the competition over prices that has been a hallmark of the last decade. SAP has raised prices for the ongoing support and customer-service fees, known as maintenance, that are part of large software purchases. A month earlier, Oracle raised list prices. The changes in software don't stem from a shortage of supply or a rise in demand. They are attempts by software makers to increase their bottom lines. Business software makers spent much of the last decade competing on price; now an acquisition wave has reduced the number of suppliers and has reduced the pressure on SAP and Oracle to lower their prices. These companies face less competition; businesses that have already invested in software from the companies can't afford to rip the systems out and replace them with software from other companies. |
| 15 | 8062 | 2001 | LifePoint buys 2 or 3 hospitals a year. Admissions at hospitals owned by it for more than a year grew from 2% to 4% (the industry average is 1% to 2%). LifePoint has also raised prices on some services 4%-6% as part of the price increase at most rural hospitals. |
<<Return Choice 3