How to define your pricing strategy during sales

To maintain the interest of its users, an ecommerce has to readjust its pricing strategy according to the actions of its competitors. And, of course, there are also occasional seasons in which you must change your prices, for example during sales.

In sale campaigns the impression caused on potential customers by discounts greatly influences the purchase decision. And on many occasions, the brands, anxious to stand out among the others, make abrupt changes in prices that, later on, cause more of a headache. So, how do you plot a good pricing strategy for sales?

In the first place, it must be considered that a good retail pricing strategies during sales must respect both the interests of the brand and those of the consumer. That is, the offer must be sufficiently attractive to the consumer while continuing to generate benefits for ecommerce.

To reach this mid-point, the first recommendation of pricing strategists is not to launch the super-discounts at the first exchange. It is not a question of defrauding your customers, but you must be aware that the sales campaigns have a duration of at least one month. And with a price cut too flashy two things can happen: that your brand loses the profit margin when continuing with those large discounts, or that the sale will brake as the sale period advances because users do not perceive any kind of upgrade.

A safe option for the brand is to draw the discounts in three temporary stages, which will be placed in the calendar to be applied as scheduled in the strategy. How do you know what discount to start with? Thanks to a program that detects competitive prices. This type of software allows us to know the levels between which the rest of the brands of the sector move to be able to adapt the prices to the market.

This way you can establish if it is more positive for the ecommerce to start offering the same discounts as the competition or tighter prices. It’s always the same debate: big discounts on inflated prices or a moderate reduction at a fair price for the value of the product? In any case, it should not be forgotten that many of the potential customers will have made their own follow-up of the products that interest them, so inflating prices can lead to negative connotations to ecommerce.

Apart from the strategy of discounts for stages, you have to take into account the different alternatives with which you can benefit your customers for their purchases in sales:

• Free shipping

• Extra discounts for purchases over a certain amount

• Special offers in multi-packs

There is no doubt that a strategy of pricing in sales gains in attractiveness when it is accompanied by other complements.

Finally, it is necessary to do a competition analysis in real time, with two objectives: to know which products are the best sellers in other ecommerce sector and to control how competitive prices fluctuate by doing online price tracking. In this way, each brand can adapt its pricing strategy to the needs of the moment.

On the whole, designing a pricing strategy during sales is not a complicated task if you follow some basic steps.  Of course, always taking into account maintaining customer satisfaction and brand transparency.