any questions from last class?. chapter 6 simple pricing copyright © 2008 thomson south-western, a...
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Chapter 6Simple Pricing
COPYRIGHT © 2008Thomson South-Western, a part of The Thomson Corporation. Thomson, the Star logo, and South-Western are trademarks used herein under license.
Chapter 6 – Take Aways
Aggregate demand or market demand is the total number of units that will be purchased by a group of consumers at a given price.
Pricing is an extent decision. Reduce price (increase quantity) if MR > MC. Increase price (reduce quantity) if MR < MC. The optimal price is where MR = MC.
Price elasticity of demand, e = (% change in quantity demanded) ÷ (% change in price) Estimated price elasticity = [(Q1 - Q2)/(Q1 + Q2)] ÷ [(P1 - P2)/(P1 + P2)] is used to
estimate demand from a price and quantity change. If |e| > 1, demand is elastic; if |e| < 1, demand is inelastic.
%ΔRevenue ≈ %ΔPrice + %ΔQuantity Elastic Demand (|e| > 1): Quantity changes more than price. Inelastic Demand (|e| < 1): Quantity changes less than price.
Chapter 6 – Take Aways
MR > MC implies that (P - MC)/P > 1/|e|; that is, the more elastic demand is, the lower the price.
Four factors make demand more elastic: Products with close substitutes (or distant complements) have more elastic demand. Demand for brands is more elastic than industry demand. In the long run, demand becomes more elastic. As price increases, demand becomes more elastic.
Income elasticity, cross-price elasticity, and advertising elasticity are measures of how changes in these other factors affect demand.
It is possible to use elasticity to forecast changes in demand: %ΔQuantity ≈ (factor elasticity)(%ΔFactor).
Stay-even analysis can be used to determine the volume required to offset a change in costs or prices.
Review of Chapter 5
Break-even quantity and entry decision Q=F/(P-MC)
Break-even price and shut-down decision Profit=Q(P-AC)
Sunk costs are vulnerable to postinvestment hold-up
Discount rates indicate willingness to trade future for current dollars
Introductory Anecdote In 1994, peso devalued by 40% in Mexico
Interest rates and unemployment shot up Overall economy slowed dramatically and consumer income fell
Demand for Sara Lee hot dogs declined This surprised managers because they thought demand would
hold steady, or even increase, since hot dogs were more of a consumer staple
Surveys revealed decline mostly confined to premium hot dogs And, consumers using creative substitutes Lower priced brands took off but were priced too low
Failure to understand demand and to price accordingly was costly
Background: Consumer Surplus and Demand Curves First Law of Demand - consumers demand
(purchase) more as price falls, assuming other factors are held constant
But, the marginal value of consuming each subsequent unit diminishes the more you consume
Consumers attempt to maximize their surplus by using marginal analysis
Consumer surplus = value to consumer less price paid
Definition: Demand curves are functions that relate the price of a product to the quantity demanded by consumers
Background: Consumer Surplus and Demand Curves (cont.) Hot dog consumer
Values first dog at $5, next at $4 . . . fifth at $1
Note that if hot dogs priced at $3, consumer will purchase 3 hot dogs, not 5
Background: Aggregate Demand Aggregate Demand: each consumer wants one unit; arrange them by what
they are willing to pay. To construct demand, sort by value.
Discussion: Why do aggregate demand curves slope downward? Role of heterogeneity? How to estimate?
Price Quantity RevenueMarginal Revenue
$7.00 1 $7.00 $7.00$6.00 2 $12.00 $5.00$5.00 3 $15.00 $3.00$4.00 4 $16.00 $1.00$3.00 5 $15.00 -$1.00$2.00 6 $12.00 -$3.00$1.00 7 $7.00 -$5.00
$0.00
$2.00
$4.00
$6.00
$8.00
$0.00 $2.00 $4.00 $6.00 $8.00
Marginal Analysis of Pricing
Pricing is an Extent Decision Profit=Revenue-Cost Lower prices mean higher sales Demand curves help us make decisions to
increase profits by modeling revenue Particularly marginal revenue Should I sell another unit?
Pricing Tradeoff
Lower pricesell more, but earn less on each unit sold
Higher pricesell less, but earn more on each unit sold
Tradeoff created by downward sloping demand
Marginal Analysis of Pricing
Marginal analysis finds the right solution to the pricing tradeoff. But only direction, not magnitude.
Definition: marginal revenue (MR) is change in total revenue from selling extra unit.
If MR>0, then total revenue will increase if you sell one more.
If MR>MC, then total profits will increase if you sell one more.
Proposition: Profits are maximized when MR=MC
Example Start from the top
If MR>MC for next step, reduce price
Continue until the next price cut would result in MR<MC
Price Quantity Revenue MR MC Profit $7.00 1 $7.00 $7.00 $1.50 $5.50 $6.00 2 $12.00 $5.00 $1.50 $9.00 $5.00 3 $15.00 $3.00 $1.50 $10.50 $4.00 4 $16.00 $1.00 $1.50 $10.00 $3.00 5 $15.00 –$1.00 $1.50 $7.50 $2.00 6 $12.00 –$3.00 $1.50 $3.00 $1.00 7 $7.00 –$5.00 $1.50 –$3.50
How do We Estimate MR?
Price elasticity is related to MR.
Definition: price elasticity= (%change in quantity demanded) (%change in price) If |e| is less than one, demand is said to be
inelastic.
If |e| is greater than one, demand is said to be elastic.
Estimating Elasticities
Definition: Arc (price) elasticity=[(q1-q2)/(q1+q2)] [(p1-p2)/(p1+p2)].
Discussion: price changes from $10 to $8; quantity changes from 1 to 2.
Example: On a promotion week for Vlasic, the price of Vlasic pickles drops by 25% and quantity increases by 300%.
Estimating Elasticities (cont.)
3-Liter Coke Promotion Instituted to meet Wal-Mart promotion
Initial Final % Change Elasticity3 Liter Q 3-liter 210 420 66.67% -3.78
P of 3-liter $1.79 $1.50 -17.63%
2 Liter Q 2-liter 120 48 -85.71% 4.86P of 3-liter $1.79 $1.50 -17.63%
Total Liters Q liters 870 1356 43.67% -2.69P liters $0.60 $0.51 -16.23%
Product
Intuition: MR and Price Elasticity %Rev ≈ %P + %Q Elasticity tells you the size of |%P| relative to |
%Q| If demand is elastic
If P↑ then Rev↓ If P↓ then Rev↑
If demand is inelastic If P↑ then Rev↑ If P↓ then Rev↓
Discussion: In 1980, Marion Barry, mayor of the District of Columbia, raised the sales tax on gasoline sold in the District by 6%.
Formula: Elasticity and MR
Proposition: MR=P(1-1/|e|) If |e|>1, MR>0. If |e|<1, MR<0.
Discussion: If demand for Nike sneakers is inelastic, should Nike raise or lower price?
Discussion: If demand for Nike sneakers is elastic, should Nike raise or lower price?
Elasticity and Pricing MR>MC is equivalent to
P(1-1/|e|)>MC
P>MC/(1-1/|e|) (P-MC)/P>1/|e|
Discussion: e= –2, p=$10, mc= $8, should you raise price?
Discussion: mark-up of 3-liter Coke is 2.7%. Should you raise price?
Discussion: Sales people MR>0 vs. marketing MR>MC.
What Makes Demand More Elastic? Products with close substitutes have elastic
demand. Demand for an individual brand is more
elastic than industry aggregate demand. Products with many complements have less
elastic demand.
Describing Demand with Price Elasticity First law of demand: e<0 (price goes up,
quantity goes down). Discussion: Do all demand curves slope
downward?
Second law of demand: in the long run, |e| increases. Discussion: Give an example of the second law of
demand.
Describing Demand (cont.)
Third law of demand: as price increases, demand curves become more price elastic, |e| increases. Discussion: Give an example of the third law of demand.
Sugar Price
HFCS Quantity
HFCS Price
HFCS Demand
Other Elasticities Definition: income elasticity=(%change in quantity demanded)
(%change in income)
Inferior (neg.) vs. normal (pos). Definition: cross-price elasticity of good one with respect to the
price of good two = (%change in quantity of good one) (%change in price of good two)
Substitute (pos.) vs. complement (neg.). Definition: advertising elasticity=(%change in quantity)
(%change in advertising) .
Discussion: The income elasticity of demand for WSJ is 0.50. Real income grew by 3.5% in the United States. Estimate WSJ demand
Stay-Even Analysis Stay-even analysis tells you how many sales you
need when changing price to maintain same profit level
Q1 = Q0*(P0-VC0)/(P1-VC0) When combined with information about elasticity of
demand, the analysis gives a quick answer to the question of whether changing price makes sense
To see the effect of a variety of potential price changes, we can draw a stay-even curve that shows the required quantities at a variety of price levels
Stay-Even Curve Example
Note that if demand is elastic, price cuts increase revenue
When demand is inelastic, price increases will increase revenue
$16
$18
$20
$22
$24
$26
$28
$30
300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Elastic Demand (e = -4.0)
Inelastic Demand (e = -0.5)
Alternate Intro Anecdote 1993 Snickers was first Western-style candy
bar in Russia Priced the same as in Great Britain Distributor marked up 600% and pocketed the difference Mars did not appreciate how novel their product was and
how much customers would be willing to pay; the distributor, however, did understand.
By the time Mars figured understood this, competitors had entered and the novelty had decreased dramatically
The purpose of this chapter is to teach you how to price products and to avoid mistakes like this.
Extra: Quick and Dirty Estimators Linear Demand Curve Formula, e=p/(pmax-p) Discussion: How high would the price of the brand
have to go before you would switch to another brand of running shoes?
Discussion: How high would the price of all running shoes have to go before you should switch to a different type of shoe?
Extra: Market Share Formula
Proposition: The individual brand demand elasticity is approximately equal to the industry elasticity divided by the brand share. Discussion: Suppose that the elasticity of demand for
running shoes is –0.4 and the market share of a Saucony brand running shoe is 20%. What is the price elasticity of demand for Saucony running shoes?
Proposition: Demand for aggregate categories is less-elastic than demand for the individual brands in aggregate.