Small Business Resource

In an economic slowdown your pricing is determined by factors like input cost of production or distribution channel cost etc. ….. which are primarily working on market factors. Generally one should be working on a reactive strategy of open price …. which allows for revision in product pricing over a shorter time period instead of quarterly or yearly market driven slashes or increases.

The important consideration is to try to maintain sales, even if some of them yield marginal or no profit (i,e, break even). In other words, so long as you are covering your costs, particularly fixed costs, then there is value in doing so.

However, unless you wish to become the low-cost leader going forward, then this low pricing may create a precedent which customers expect to continue, and it also may devalue the brand.

So pricing strategy must be decided carefully, with all things considered, including unintended consequences. And it may be better to have various incentives rather than simple price cuts in order to sustain sales.

In the article “Pricing in an Inflationary_Downturn”, McKinsey recommends the following actions:

-Watch for sudden shifts in price structure
-Adjust to changing customer needs
-Monitor customer-level profitability
-Update price sensitivity research

Many companies across the nation are on the verge of closing their doors and some have already started liquidating their inventory.