Pricing power (parte II)

Parte I.

"The respondents in the Global Pricing Study 2014 made it acutely obvious that selling conditions for just about any product have gotten worse over the last two years. Downward pressure on prices is at very high levels. When asked whether they have experienced increasing price pressures in the last two years, 83% of the respondents said “yes”.
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Where do these pressures come from? Based on our study and our own day-to-day work with clients, we would say the source is aboute venly split between the customers and the competitors. In the B2B world, procurement continues to become more professionalized, meaning more and more companies bring to bear skill and expertise in an effort to drive down prices or achieve the most favorable price-value relationship. In both the B2B and B2C worlds, the enormous transparency created by the internet lets people compare prices almost instantly with ease."

Quando li estes trechos, baixei o tablet, continuei a caminhar e a pensar na reacção típica em Portugal perante este cenário: pedir ajuda ao papá-Estado; fazer manifestações, cortar estradas, provocar tumultos, apelar à compaixão pelos coitadinhos.

Qual a alternativa?

"This begs one urgent question: what is the way out? Prayer is definitely not the answer. Innovation is the right answer, and the respondents in our study know it."

A inovação é a alternativa!
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Fugir da commoditização, fugir do granel, arranjar uma identidade.

"companies have recognized that launching new products is by far their best option to escape these pressures and re-establish their pricing power.
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When asked how they planned to fight or survive amid those pressures, a large majority of respondents (77%) said they planned to introduce new, innovative, or differentiated products. These are their means to change the basis of competition."

Recordar o exemplo da empresa que não conseguia vender sapatos a 20€ mas que os vende agora a 230€.