How to Create a Competitive Pricing Strategy (With Examples)

Strong competitive pricing strategies entice new customers and give your business an edge in the market. Dan Cakora, Business Consultant at Vendavo illustrates how to build your strategy and highlights the benefits of various pricing methods.

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Consumers base their purchasing decisions on various factors, but the final decision often comes down to price. According to a Global Retail Study, 87% of shoppers want to know that they “got a good deal” when purchasing an item.

So how do you balance this customer need with the business goal of maximizing your profits? After all, the pressure to competitively lower your prices is constant and intense.

But you might be surprised to learn that the answer isn’t always to lower your prices.

Here’s how to create a competitive pricing strategy to boost your sales and help you stand out.

What is a Competitive Pricing Strategy?

A competitive pricing strategy is when you price your items based on your position in the market or industry niche rather than on typical product cost.

When you use competitive pricing, you evaluate the prices of your competitors’ products and adjust your prices on an ongoing basis. This pricing model leverages competition to build customer interest and encourages innovation — especially in industries like tech.

It’s a vital component of any price management strategy and something you can’t ignore when looking for an effective approach to price optimization.

How is Competitor-Based Pricing Calculated?

A competitive pricing calculation relies on pricing data from other companies in your industry, so start by calculating the average price of similar products across your primary competitors.

Then, you can adjust your prices based on this average price. This strategy works especially well if you sell an identical product as your competitors, but you can still calculate the average price of similar items across other companies.

Collecting and Visualizing Competitive Pricing Data

Before you decide to implement a competitive pricing strategy, consider visualizing the data you’ll be working with to ensure a holistic view of the competitive environment.

Here is a series of blogs I’ve written on the topic to give you clear methodology for the process of visualizing competitive pricing data.

The Importance of Competitive Pricing Strategy

Consumers are avid researchers. One retail study discovered that 53% of shoppers “always do research” before deciding to buy. And according to a Global Retail Study, 57% of shoppers research on their phones while standing in a physical store.

This data means that your customers are aware of your competition — maybe even more than you are! But a competitive pricing strategy considers your competition’s positioning, which leads to higher sales and profits by ensuring that you put relevant prices in the market.

Competitive Pricing Strategy: Benefits and Disadvantages

Before you adopt a competitive pricing strategy, it’s essential to understand its strengths and weaknesses.

The Benefits of a Competitive Pricing Strategy

The advantages of competitive pricing include:

Simplifying your approach to pricing
Increasing your sales volume and revenue
Adapting to changes in the market
Boosting traffic to your store or e-commerce platform

Additionally, implementing a competitive pricing strategy has a protective effect: Competitive prices prevent market share losses and prevent your loyal customers from taking their business elsewhere.

Disadvantages of Competitive Pricing Strategy

There are some drawbacks to a competitive pricing strategy, including:

Lower prices may prevent you from covering costs
Customers base purchasing decisions on more than just cost
Match your products to competitor prices, especially if they’re not exact matches
Your competitors may be pricing their products incorrectly

While you must carefully weigh these disadvantages, they don’t negate the benefit of offering your customers competitive prices. Most business owners will see the benefit of adopting a competitive pricing strategy for at least a portion of their products.

Types of Competitive Pricing Strategies

There are three basic approaches to competitive pricing: lowering your prices, raising your prices, or keeping your prices even with the competition.

Lower Prices

Lowering your prices can be a valid strategy if you’re not as established as your competitors or are entering a market for the first time.

This may mean you accept lower margins for a short period while you build credibility and demonstrate value. In the longer term, the goal is to compete on something other than price so you can justify charging more for your goods and/or services.

Higher Prices

Believe it or not, raising prices can also be a way of outpacing your competitors. This strategy is most helpful when you offer a novel or proprietary product or service that is critically acclaimed to be better than your competitors’ offerings.

A higher price point can highlight the superior quality of your product line or give your business the reputation for being an “upscale” alternative to your competitors.

Equal Prices

Matching your competitors’ prices prevents you from losing business to customers looking for a better value. It also allows you to emphasize a unique shopping experience, superior customer service, or other options that make your business the best choice.

Additionally, a “price-match guarantee” policy may draw in customers who want to be confident that they’re paying the lowest price on the market.

Competitive Pricing: Examples

How do these competitive pricing strategies work in the business world? Here are some competitive pricing examples to illustrate their usage:

Lower Price Strategy

FantasticBeans is preparing to sell a new type of coffee maker and discovers that its major competitors are selling a similar item for $74.99. So FantasticBeans sells its coffee maker for $69.99, appealing to budget-hungry shoppers.

But once customers are in the store, FantasticBeans enrolls them into a loyalty program and captures their contact details for future sales, using the lower price as leverage for a lasting relationship with long-term benefits.

It’s important to remember, though, that you’re likely to be cutting your margin as part of this, so you’ll want to understand how to conduct a margin impact analysis beforehand.

Higher Price Strategy

Razor Elite makes and distributes shaving kits but is uncertain how to price its latest offering. Research reveals an average price of $39.99 for a comparable kit, but Razor Elite deliberately sets its price at $49.99.

This price point allows the marketing team to accent their product’s eco-friendly packaging and quality ingredients, especially compared to the “bargain” retailers on the market.

Equal Price Strategy

Best Buds Accessories operates an e-commerce platform that sells Bluetooth earbuds and other cell phone accessories. The company discovers that other online retailers sell their earbuds for $99 and decides to match that price.

However, the sales team emphasizes add-on products to incentivize customers to return and purchase additional accessories.

Key Takeaways

So what is competitive pricing, and what should business leaders know about it?

A competitive pricing strategy adapts your prices to the market
Shoppers carefully research pricing before making a buying decision
Competitive pricing can be lower, higher, or equal to your competitors

Many businesses pair their competitive pricing strategy with a broader marketing approach, drawing in new customers with introductory prices and then selling additional products or services.

Market Data at Your Fingertips

The best decisions rely on data. Vendavo’s Profit Analyzer tool can give you a better picture of your competitors’ prices, allowing you to align your prices with your business strategy.

How to Create a Competitive Pricing Strategy – with Definitions, Examples, and Benefits