Reduce Price to Improve Revenues and Margins
CHOICE 1 OBJECTIVE: REWARD CUSTOMERS
CHOICE 2 SEGMENTS: LOW DEMAND PERIOD SEGMENT / INDUSTRY RECESSIONS
CHOICE 3 COMPONENT: CHANGE THE LIST PRICE
| No. | SIC | Year | Notes |
| 1 | 1521 | 2008 | Pulte Homes Inc., one of the country's largest home builders, says it will match a new $7,500 tax credit for first-time home buyers with its own $7,500 discount on homes. The goal of the offer, which is to be extended to any buyer of a Pulte home, is to draw attention not only to homes, but to the housing market in general. |
| 2 | 5600 | 2009 | When Saks Fifth Avenue slashed prices by 70% on designer clothes before the holiday season even began, shoppers stampeded. Retailers are still feeling pain. Saks said January sales fell nearly 24%. Neiman Marcus expects its first quarterly loss in a holiday shopping period anyone at the retailer can remember. Last year, luxury goods had become especially important to retailers because sales of these so-called "star" brands stayed strong into mid- 2008, even though retailing overall was sinking by then. |
| 3 | 5812 | 2009 | An Indian restaurant in Germany offered a lunch buffet for 7.99 Euros. To combat slowing sales, the owner experimented with a two week "pay what you want" promotion. Volume went up 60% and the average customer paid between 5 and 7 euros. The same technique failed at a German movie theater, perhaps because customers have more personal contact at a restaurant. |
| 4 | 5900 | 2008 | Retailers are gearing up to offer massive discounts this weekend to lure last-minute shoppers and try to salvage a so-far disastrous holiday season. In a mad dash to liquidate excess inventories, chains are rolling out deeper and broader price cuts than last year, extending hours, and offering even more generous promotions to loyal customers. Neiman Marcus rolled out new sales Thursday offering as much as 65% off cashmere sweaters. |
| 5 | 7011 | 1990 | There is lessened demand for hotel rooms in San Francisco this summer, so hotels are cutting room rates by 20-40% or more. Much of slowdown is attributed to the Oct. earthquake. |
| 6 | 7011 | 2001 | An important aspect to Amsterdam Hospitality's success despite September 11 was its swift reaction to the terrorist attacks. One day afterward, Amsterdam Hospitality's founder met with his key executives to develop a strategy aimed at luring tourists into his hotels. They cut room rates 30% to 40%, launched promotional campaigns through national rental car chains (in anticipation that nervous travelers would choose to drive rather than fly to vacation getaways), offered travel agents additional incentives |
| 7 | 7011 | 2001 | All boutique hotels reported a sharp drop-off of business immediately after September 11. The owner of the Bryant Park in New York said his business plunged after the attacks, though the hotel's restaurant and bar continued drawing huge crowds. He chopped rates as low as $219 a night, down from pre-September 11 levels of a $300 average. He also trimmed staff by about 20%. |
| 8 | 7011 | 2001 | The Amsterdam Hospitality Group slashed rates about 30% to 40% to attract consumers bitten by the recession bug. The December 2001 average rate of $157 a night is down from $194 prior to September 11. |
| 9 | 7011 | 2002 | To lure U.S. travelers, four- and five-star hotels in cities like Paris, Rome, and Milan are slashing rates through March. Radisson is discounting rates at its 100 properties in Europe through March 31. Rooms at the Radisson SAS Palais Hotel in Vienna – a five-star accommodation constructed out of two palaces built in 1872 – are $134 a night, down from $236. A room at the Radisson SAS Alcron Hotel in Prague is $120, down from $246. Rooms in London are even cheaper, with rates there having dropped an average of 10% to 25% from a year earlier. Still, travel agents say U.S. travelers are scarce in many European cities. |
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