Analyzing HP's Price Strategies on Their Tablet PC

Acer has a degree of control over its prices and a considerable amount of non-price competitions exists, which ultimately leads to price discrimination (University of Phoenix, 2011). As such, Acer should focus on attaining and retaining loyal customers. Their non-pricing strategy should be focused on the development of products that are unique

When it comes to pricing we always strived to provide one of the lowest prices in the market. We decreased product prices by $0.50 on each product each year to appeal to consumers. Since providing a low cost product was one of our strategic goals we did not stray from decreasing prices. Looking back, perhaps we shouldn’t have been so loyal to our strategy when we were unable to turn a profit. While a strategy is important to stick to, being a profitable company is the ultimate goal.

I will never see the day when there is not yet room for improvement. Through time, HP's focus on innovation had brought the world products such as the handheld calculator and the inkjet printer. In 1992, the company continued to invest heavily in technology, spending $1.6 billion or 10% of revenue on research and development. The high levels of investment have paid off. For three straight years, over half of HP's orders had been for products introduced within the last two years.

Pricing can play an important role in the success or disaster of any product. Too high a price and the product will fail; too low a price and not enough profits will be made to sustain business operations (Hisrich, Peters, & Shepherd, 2014). The key is to make the customer think that they are paying exactly the right price for the product. Anything else though in this regard means the product is not positioned well in the mind of the consumer. First of all, Gril-Kleen will have to decide on what sort of strategy it needs to pursue. This strategy is decided on three factors namely costs, margins and competition.

This paper will give a short history and descriptions of Apple’s I Pad minicomputer. It will also give factors that affect demand, supply, and equilibrium prices in the market. Issues that Apple faces that affect its competitiveness will also be addressed. Lastly, this paper will identify the long term profitability of the iPad including, price elasticity of demand, technological innovation, and cost structure.

HP, an expert in the hi-tech industry understands the fiercely competitive environment where technological and innovative advancements could create turbulent

Hewlett Packard also known as HP was founded by William Hewlett and Dave Packard in a small rented garage in Palo Alto, California which is now known as the original Silicon Valley. HP is one of the world’s largest Information Technology (IT) companies operating on a global level. HP specializes in computers, computer systems and software. Also, in the development and manufacture of hardware, software design, service delivery as well as data storage. Identified Strategies

However, there are several factors for the company to choose its pricing strategy. In this case, it may be better if the company choose to sell its product at $21.50 instead of $15.50. This is due to the fact that price-cutting appears to be not a good strategy in this industry. If every player in the same industry starts to lower the price of their products, every company will end up having the low price, which in turns lead to a low profit margin. Moreover, referring to the calculation in a below table, it also implies that if the price is lower than $12, sales will not be able to cover the variable cost incurred, thus it will bring about a loss in net profit.

• The market was not ready to embrace a product of this nature at a $250 price tag.

After analyzing the results from the previous quarter, it was determined that the prices set for each segment were not sufficient. Product sales priority were also not properly adjusted. With the R&D investments, sales priorities needed to be changed for the main focus to become the most profitable market segments. Prices were not competitive which in turned decreased revenue, market share, and profitability. To become more competitive we altered the prices in each market segment. The Workhorse product was the first to change, the price was lowered to $2500 in an attempt to increase sales; at this price Team 4 was still making a profit on this product, as well as making the price much more competitive. The Workhorse sales priority was also lowered to 3rd in Americas and 4th in APAC and EMEA. This product was not selling as well as we had hoped, and was no longer as profitable as it once was which led to this decision. Next, the Innovator product’s price was adjusted; this involved a price increase to $4100. This price was adjusted to include the new

Nintendo appears to have implemented a market-penetration pricing strategy. The Wii at a cost of $250 is 50% less than the 20-gigabyte PS3 (smaller hard drive machine). At this lower price, it is easier for the product to penetrate the market due to affordability in most segments. This aligns with the assumed company’s aim of maximising market share in the current and new segments. To achieve this, Nintendo ensured that the Wii was less costly to manufacture. Moreover, a higher sales volume may lead to lower unit costs and higher long run profits. Conversely, Sony is believed to have a market-skimming pricing strategy. The company invested $2 billion in technology, so this strategy aims at recovering the maximum amount of revenue to cover the high costs incurred in the early stages of the product life cycle. Additionally, Sony has a strong brand due to the success of their previous machines (PS2 and playstation) and the high price assists in communicating the image of a superior product with quality.

True to nearly any commoditized product, pricing and availability became the only two significant differentiators quickly as Intel increased

Keeping these realities in mind, it is very much obvious that for this market, we choose and follow a value based pricing and do not keep the price of the product too high. It is advisable rather to follow an average pricing and let the consumers build some enthusiasm around the product.

Price interacts with all other elements of the marketing mix to determine the effectiveness of each and of the whole. The objectives that guide pricing strategy should be a subset of the objectives that guide overall marketing strategy. Thus, it is probably wrong to view price as an independent element of marketing strategy or to assert that price, by itself, is a central element in the marketing mix.” (Webster, 1979)

In pricing strategy, Miele sets high price as a symbol of high quality product and differentiation