PRICING SOLUTIONS LTD. ANNOUNCES NEW TRAINING PROGRAMS
FOR PPS ANNUAL SPRING PRICING CONFERENCE

April 1, 2015
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Toronto – Pricing Solutions has announced new advanced training programs for Spring 2015, including How to Dramatically Grow Profits Through Improved Pricing and World Class Pricing: Measuring Success. Both programs will be released as part of the PPS 26th Annual Spring Pricing Workshops & Conference next month in Dallas, Texas.

“We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from clients about the challenges they’re facing – industry specific and across the board”, says Pricing Solutions’ President Paul Hunt. “Those challenges certainly aren’t going away, so we’re extremely excited to deliver new, practical training programs that address them head-on.”

Alongside Paul, the pilot programs will be led by Kirk Jackisch, Vice President of Pricing Strategy & Management. Both are returning speakers to the PPS.

Using Pricing Solutions’ 5 Levels of World Class Pricing framework, “How to Dramatically Grow Profits will help participants learn how to break out of the role of the ‘pricing policeman’ and into the role of the ‘pricing partner’ using proven approaches”, says Paul.

The 1-day session runs May 6th at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas.

World Class Pricing: Measuring Success will take place on May 7th, 2:30-3:30pm, also at the Hilton Anatole Hotel.

“While most companies have focused on building competencies in defining the pricing strategy, setting net customer prices and executing prices, they’ve typically failed to manage pricing performance”, says Kirk Jackisch. “Measuring Success will help companies fill that gap and provide missing best practices”.

For more information, visit www.pricingsolutions.com or pricingsociety.com.

The Professional Pricing Society (PPS) represents more than 4,800 members and 650 companies across 75 countries. PPS holds additional major pricing conference in Asia, Europe and South America. The North American-based Spring and Fall sessions have grown into some of the largest educational forums for the pricing community.

 

For all media enquiries, please contact:
Emily McLean, Marketing Manager
emclean@www.pricingsolutions.com
1-416-943-0505

PRICING SOLUTIONS LTD. ANNOUNCES NEW PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT
IN ASIA PACIFIC OFFICE

February 2, 2015
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Singapore – Pricing Solutions is pleased to welcome P.C. Abraham to Pricing Solutions APAC as the Principal Consultant in the region. P.C. brings with him an extensive background in consulting and research. Most recently, he has spearheaded international pricing and strategy projects in the industrial and B2B space for clients like Honeywell, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Chevron and Moog, among others.

P.C. has lived and worked in Asia for over 20 years. He is adept at navigating the market dynamics and cultural nuances that can make the region so challenging.

P.C. will be based in Singapore.

“I look forward to helping to bring the knowledge and resources of Pricing Solutions globally to clients in Asia”, says P.C. Abraham.

P.C. has also held senior strategy & management positions with Deloitte Consulting, Accenture and A.T. Kearney. He holds an MBA from INSEAD.

“P.C. has significant experience in pricing, value-based pricing strategy and marketing”, says Paul Hunt, President of Pricing Solutions. “As we continue to expand in the region, we are very excited to have P.C. join our team.”

For more information, visit www.pricingsolutions.com.

For more information read P.C.’s biography or visit www.pricingsolutions.com.

 

P.C. Abraham Principal Consultant, Pricing Solutions APAC
Tel: +65 6777 2352
pcabraham@www.pricingsolutions.com

For all media enquiries, please contact:
Emily McLean, Marketing Manager
emclean@www.pricingsolutions.com>
1-416-943-0505

PRICING SOLUTIONS LTD. ANNOUNCES NEW DIRECTORS OF ANALYTICS, RESEARCH

January 27, 2014
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Toronto – Pricing Solutions is pleased to announce Mr. Frederic Puech and Ms. Madeline Stein have been appointed Directors within the Pricing Research & Analytics practice. Mr. Puech has been named new Director of Analytics, and Ms. Stein, new Director of Research.

“I am very excited about the growth and evolution of our team” says Greg Thomas, Vice President of the Pricing Research & Analytics Practice.

Frederic Puech, PhD, has worked with Pricing Solutions for over 3 years. Since joining the firm, he has specialized in developing advanced pricing analytics and optimization models. His previous experience includes global pricing strategy studies across a variety of public and private industries including B2B, medical products, online retailing and the educational sector. Frederic is based in the company’s head office in Toronto.

Madeline Stein has worked with Pricing Solutions for over 8 years. She has extensive experience managing and executing large-scale research projects in both the B2B and B2C environments. She has worked with clients in healthcare, CPG, food service, automotive, financial services and industrial technologies, among others. Madeline specializes in quantitative pricing research methodologies including conjoint analysis, perceived value mapping and relative attribute importance. She is currently based in Vancouver.

For more information, visit www.pricingsolutions.com.

Frederic Puech, Director Analytics
fpuech@www.pricingsolutions.com

Madeline Stein, Director Research
mstein@www.pricingsolutions.com

For all media enquiries, please contact:
Emily McLean, Marketing Coordinator
emclean@www.pricingsolutions.com
1-416-943-0505

Also available on: PRLog and i-Newswire

PRICING SOLUTIONS LTD. ANNOUNCES NEW VICE PRESIDENT OF PRICING STRATEGY & MANAGEMENT

September 16, 2013
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Toronto – Toronto-based Pricing Solutions Ltd. is pleased to welcome Kirk Jackisch to the Pricing Management team as Vice President of Pricing Management & Strategy. Kirk has over 15 years of strategic pricing experience, including nine years leading consulting projects for international companies in the high-tech, healthcare, manufacturing, consumer products and BPO industries. He’s also held senior management positions in pricing, strategic marketing and sales support with companies like McKesson Health Solutions, Boston Beer Company and Stream Global Services.

Kirk says, “It is a great opportunity to join the Pricing Solutions team. I’m looking forward to bringing our best-in-class pricing solutions to our world-class clients.”

Kirk will be based in Boston and Toronto.

“We are very excited to have Kirk join our team”, says Paul Hunt, President of Pricing Solutions. “Not only does he have tremendous depth in pricing, but he is extremely client focused”.

For more information, read Kirk’s full biography or visit www.pricingsolutions.com.

Kirk Jackisch Vice President, Pricing Strategy & Management
1-866-973-6678 x136
kjackisch@www.pricingsolutions.com

For all media enquiries, please contact:
Emily McLean, Marketing Coordinator
emclean@www.pricingsolutions.com
1-416-943-0505

Also available on: PRLog and i-Newswire

PRICING SOLUTIONS, MOLSON COORS CANADA, QUEEN’S SCHOOL OF BUSINESS WIN INFORMS PRACTICE PRIZE IN REVENUE MANAGEMENT AND PRICING

June 14, 2013
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Toronto – Toronto-based Pricing Solutions Ltd., together with Molson Coors Canada and Queen’s School of Business were awarded the 2013 INFORMS Revenue Management and Pricing Practice Award last week. They were named this year’s recipient for their outstanding application of revenue and pricing management techniques in jointly developing the Price and Promotional Planning ModelTM.

The Prize was awarded as part of the Annual INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Revenue Management and Pricing Section Conference, hosted by the Scheller School of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia.

Representatives from Pricing Solutions, Molson Coors Canada and Queen’s School of Business were on hand to accept the award.

Jim Saunders, Vice President of the Pricing Management Practice at Pricing Solutions said, “There were a number of significant challenges we had to overcome throughout the course of this project.”

“From a technical standpoint, we were building a model of consumer preferences in a complex category and on a scale that was larger than what commercial software could handle. It was equally important to develop comfort and confidence in the tool, in a way that it could become part of the Revenue Management Process at Molson Coors.”

Finalists for the award presented nominated-projects as part of the conference. Judges selected the winning submission based on achieving excellence in 3 areas: technical merit, unique problem and approach, and achieving results.

The Price and Promotional Planning ModelTM is currently in use by Molson Coors Canada. As a result of its success, further international expansion and development is planned by the brewing company.

“We are still at the early stages of development in our Revenue Management practices at Molson Coors and genuinely honored to be recognized for our initial success by such a reputable organization, for our practices and results in this discipline.” says Christine Jakovcic, Senior Director, National Revenue Management at Molson Coors Canada.

“In partnership with Pricing Solutions Ltd. and Queen’s School of Business, we will continue to strive to grow and lead thinking in this important area of management science.”

Pricing Solutions, Molson Coors Canada and Queen’s School of Business partnered on the project for over a year. The three join past Practice Prize winners including Hewlett-Packard (2012) and Marriott International (2010).

Pricing Solutions is an international price consultancy specializing in developing pricing management tools and models, as well as Pricing Strategy, Pricing & Value Research, Pricing Training and Pricing Systems services. The organization was named a finalist for the INFORMS Practice Prize in early May. INFORMS is the largest professional society in the world for those in the field of operations research, management science and business analytics.

For more information, please contact:
Emily McLean, Marketing Coordinator
emclean@www.pricingsolutions.com
416-943-0505

Also available on: PRLog and i-Newswire

PRICING SOLUTIONS NAMED FINALISTS FOR INFORMS PRACTICE AWARD

May 22, 2013
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Toronto – Pricing Solutions Ltd. is pleased to announce it has been named a finalist for the INFORMS (Institute for the Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Revenue Management and Pricing Section Practice Award. Pricing Solutions, Molson Coors Canada and Queen’s University are jointly nominated for the Award for their roles in developing the Price and Promotional Planning ModelTM.

The award will be presented June 7, 2013 at the 2013 INFORMS Revenue Management and Pricing Section Conference, hosted by the Scheller School of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia.

The winner will be announced following special presentations by each of the finalists during the conference. The custom-built Price and Promotional Planning ModelTM is designed to assess the impact of pricing and promotional actions across multiple product lines and in both competitive and volatile environments. The model is currently in use by Molson Coors Canada. Further international application is planned.

Pricing Solutions is an international price consultancy, specializing in developing pricing models and pricing management tools in addition to Pricing Strategy, Pricing & Value Research, Pricing Training and Pricing Systems.

INFORMS Revenue Management and Pricing Section champions the use of data, mathematics and computers to better understanding purchasing behavior and improve pricing practices.

Past RM&P Practice Award winners include HP Labs and Columbia University (2012), Wyndham Exchange & Rentals, Metrics & Algorithms Team (2011), and Marriott International (2010).

For more information, please contact:
Emily McLean, Marketing Coordinator
emclean@www.pricingsolutions.com
416-943-0505

INTRODUCING PRICING SOLUTIONS ASIA PACIFIC: NEW SINGAPORE OFFICE

July 18, 2012

Singapore – Pricing Solutions Ltd., a leading consulting firm specializing in pricing strategy and well known for its World Class Pricing ™ Methodology and Price + Value Insights™, is delighted to announce the opening of its Asia Pacific Headquarters, located in Singapore.

Paul Hunt, President of Pricing Solutions Ltd. said “Over the past two years we’ve seen a surge in demand from our North American and European clients for us to deliver projects in Asia. As a result, our pricing research, and management businesses have grown rapidly in the region. The opening of our APAC Headquarters in Singapore will enable us to better serve our global clients as well as bring our unique service offering to businesses in the region”.

Dominic James, Pricing Solutions Principal Consultant for APAC remarked “Pricing Solutions offers capabilities and expertise that are unique in the market. With Pricing projects typically yielding a 10:1 return on investment, I’m really excited at the prospect of bringing the benefits of our World Class Pricing TM Methodology and Price + Value Insights™ to more businesses in Asia Pacific”.

The Pricing Solutions Asia Pacific Headquarters is located at:
1 Fullerton Road,
#02-01 One Fullerton,
Singapore 049213,
Singapore
Phone +65-6832-5139.
Fax +65 6408 3801

For more information on Pricing Solutions Asia Pacific, please contact Dominic James or visit Pricing Solutions Asia Pacific online.

July 2010

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Giants Ticket Program a Home Run
Last year, a nosebleed ticket for a Giants game against a lowly team like the Pittsburgh Pirates would likely run you around $18. This year, as part of the Giants’ new dynamic pricing strategy, that same ticket goes for $5 — a selling point that is playing a major role in the team’s attendance figures rising 6 percent above 2009 figures.

Halfway this season, the team’s dynamic pricing program — which lowers or increases ticket costs based on opponent, weather, time and other factors — has been deemed a success, with average attendance for this season at 36,213 — nearly 2,000 people more than last year.

Despite this not being their best season so far, the Giants have been able to fill their stadium with fans more regularly by gauging demand for specific games. Team spokeswoman Shana Daum said “We definitely think our fans have more access with the dynamic ticket prices.”

Under the Giants’ dynamic pricing strategy, the team has offered 29 games this year where a fan could buy a $5 ticket. While the Giants experimented with dynamic ticket pricing last year, 2010 has been the first season the program has been rolled out in its entirety, and Daum said there is every indicator that the program will return next year. Currently, the Giants may be the only major professional sports team in America to offer dynamic ticket pricing, but Daum said she doesn’t anticipate that lasting long. “A number of teams have contacted us to inquire about our dynamic pricing,” Daum said. “We’ve been trailblazers in the past when it comes to innovative ticketing strategies, and I think this will be another example of that.”
Source: The San Francisco Examiner, July 4, 2010

What Lies Behind Microsoft’s “Kin’s Dead” Decision?
Microsoft announced they will stop producing their Kin smartphones after only a 6-week release, thus cancelling their European launches and terminating the project. Kin smartphone? I never heard of them either. They will supply Kin phones to their US carriers but the staff has already been assigned to the Phone 7 smartphone operating system project. So why did it fail?

There were rumors that the Kin sales reports were lousy. But how bad does it have to be, that the world’s biggest software company pulls the plug on its first smartphone in only six weeks? This is a huge public and technological disaster for Microsoft and at the very least signals major problems in professional management.

Everything indicated to a rosy reception of the Kin. The keyboard phone market is bigger than the touch screen phone market, especially in the USA; Microsoft’s home market. Even more, a third of American youth send 100 SMS per day. So the two models of the youth-oriented Microsoft Kin phones seemed to arrive perfectly at the right time in the right place. But what went wrong?

Apparently one of their main problems was pricing. With a poor pricing strategy they offered an overpriced product and reacted with price cuts once sales weren’t going their way. Their initial deal with a carrier partner was soured after an 18 month delay on release, so they were no longer keen on offering a pricing deal. Because of this, the product was overpriced but also overvalued as they failed to do the appropriate market research. It seems as if this product was doomed from the beginning and it goes to show not even Microsoft is immune to the effects of an ineffective pricing strategy.
Source: Bright Side of News, July 06, 2010

Tesla IPO: Much Ado About Nothing
Tesla Motors’ IPO has given investors and industry insiders much to talk about. The electric automaker raised $226 million as its shares rose above expectations to $18.11. However, in reality, Tesla’s raising of capital won’t mean much to the company’s future success. This is because of a poor pricing strategy.

For a company that wants to sell tens of thousands of vehicles per year, the $178 million that Tesla Motors hopes to raise is a drop in the oil pan. Tesla is borrowing nearly three times that much from the Department of Energy to build the upcoming Model S sedan. For Tesla to reach its goal of producing 20,000 Model S vehicles per year, it will likely have to acquire additional funding as the company had just $100 million in the bank at the beginning of the year, and with a burn rate of $3 million per month it will take $108 million just to get through 2012.

That doesn’t include the additional costs from the planned expansion from 10 to 50 dealerships, as well as any marketing expenses related to the launch of its first mass market vehicle. Tesla Motors must also spend $116 million to produce the Model S and manufacture battery packs to get full access to the DOE loan.

Tesla Motors may need to rethink the pricing strategy for the Model S, which is supposed to sell at $57,500. Of concern to investors should be Tesla’s plans for producing up to 20,000 Model S cars in 2012. Pike Research estimates the entire U.S. market for EVs will only be 34,000 in 2012, and the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi I-MiEV will have a considerable advantage in coming to market sooner. When you consider that Tesla Motors has barely sold more than 1,000 cars in nearly two years in a market where the company was effectively alone, it will be a formidable challenge to sell 20,000 vehicles annually when contending with a field that will include fellow newcomers Coda Automotive and Fisker Automotive. If Tesla Motors significantly drops the price of the vehicle it may have difficulty selling the Model S at a profit, which would increase the challenge in finding other investors.
Source: Reuters, June 29, 2010

Media’s Two Tribes
Is it better to take a little money from a lot of people, or a lot of money from a few? In Britain the Times and the Sunday Times newspapers are about to take the latter course by asking people to pay for news online. Paywalls are rising across the media landscape as many firms conclude that revenue from online advertising alone is not enough to make ends meet. The Tallahassee Democrat starts charging from July 1st. Hulu said this week that it would begin selling subscriptions as well.

Yet there is a strong drift in the opposite direction, too. Britain’s Daily Mail’s website, which is heavy on pictures and celebrity news, has grown rapidly in the past two years, both at home and abroad. It had 42m unique monthly visitors in May, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations—more than any other British newspaper website. Martin Clarke, who runs the Mail’s website, reckons people simply will not pay for general news on the web, and is happy to maximize viewers and advertising.

There is clearly a difference on how certain companies chose to price their media. It is a divide between a strategy based on “up-selling” people to premium subscriptions, and a strategy based on scale and market-share. More fundamentally, it reflects different views about the extent to which consumers can be steered towards the most profitable products.

The big media firms are not wholly consistent. Although News Corporation champions subscriptions, it is not yet erecting paywalls around its tabloid newspapers. Disney makes its broadcast TV shows available free but does not do the same for ESPN, its lucrative sports network. Other outfits are fence-sitters that believe they can both take a little money from a lot of people and a lot of money from a few people. But the drift is towards the extremes. Few believe the future lies in premium-ish products and middling scale.

Online advertising is picking up, encouraging firms that have hitched their fortunes to it. As others erect paywalls, the audiences for free sites will probably grow. The Times will surely lose online readers when it begins charging. The mere act of asking people to register caused its market share to drop by half.

This lack of consensus worries many in the media industry. Those who pursue scale, claim that premium strategies are doomed. The other side retorts that the practice of giving stuff away undermines the value of all content. But it is likely that winners will emerge on both sides. Some will find a way of profiting from scale, while others will carve out dedicated audiences and lucrative niches. There need not be a single right way to price things.
Source: The Economist, July 1, 2010

Horticulture NZ Seeking Inquiry in Fruit and Vegetable Prices
Horticulture New Zealand has said that there’s a need for someone, who investigates retail pricing of fresh fruit and vegetables.

The release of the grower study by the Green Party over the weekend brought into light the issue of price that growers are not being paid any more the amount that they had been receiving five years ago thus indicating they do not count with a proper pricing strategy.

Horticulture NZ Chief Executive, Peter Silcock says that at times, it appears the prices which are paid to growers, and the prices paid by consumers, appear off center, and probably, it means that a definitive fraction in that lot is losing money, while somebody is gaining that lost money.

Growers and consumers at the similar plane need be confident that there is enough transparency in the pricing system, which they are entitled to see, so as to ensure a reliable and acceptable mark up range, which is totally the opposite, since at present, the system is not very effective in delivering appropriately to all the fractions, the proportions in the best way.

An inquiry, perhaps led by Justice Minister, Simon Power, would give details where the costs are in the supply chain, and in whose pockets the profits are falling.
Source: Top News , July 5, 2010

The Click and the Dead
Everywhere people bemoan the replacement of the local and the quaint by outposts of big, homogeneous chains. But how true is the notion that the internet in particular has hastened the demise of some retailers, and that those it hurt were overwhelmingly small? A new study on this subject by four economists at the University of Chicago looks at three industries—bookshops, travel agencies and new-car dealerships—for answers.

In the past, economists have paid most attention to the effects of the internet on prices. These fit snugly into a standard economic model of competition. The internet acts mainly as a mechanism that reduces consumers’ costs of acquiring information about products and prices. Before the online age, someone looking to buy a fridge, say, might have gone into one or two local shops, and perhaps rung a few more, to compare prices. The web, however, made it easy to gather more information. Theory suggested that as more and more retailers and customers went online, customers would become pickier. It would become more difficult for a retailer to continue to sell overpriced goods because people would have more knowledge about other options.

E-commerce ought therefore to lead to intensified price competition and through it to lower variation, or “dispersion”, in prices. A large scholarly literature has found that this is true. For a real-world example of the effect of lower search costs, think of today’s e-reader price wars. On June 21st Barnes & Noble, a bookseller, dropped the price of its Nook e-reader to $199 in America. Within hours, Amazon cut the price of its Kindle product to $189.

The new study tests another expected consequence of e-commerce. Intensifying competition should lead not just to price convergence but also to a round of creative destruction. Companies that are unable to cope with the demands of consumers in the internet age should be wiped out. Those who can ought to thrive.
Source: The Economist, July 1, 2010

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