Pricing policy and pricing strategies. Pricing policy: types, formation, examples

Pricing policy is to provide the services and goods offered with optimal economic characteristics that can adapt to the constantly changing market situation. This is an essential part of the marketing program, providing the company with the following benefits:

Stimulating sales by changing prices;

Support of other marketing methods of product promotion;

No additional financial investments.

Development stages

Pricing policy in marketing is a course of pricing that ensures the creation of a company's business reputation, penetration into new segments, consolidation of positions, and maximization of profits. Its development involves several stages. The first is based on defining the goal. It may contain close prospects for the company to reach a new level or contain a broad direction for business development. The second stage includes internal marketing research. As part of this analysis, an assessment is made of the production capacity of the equipment, the costs of marketing activities that stimulate sales, the costs of searching for new sales channels and transporting goods, the cost of materials and raw materials, and labor costs. At the third stage, marketing research is carried out on competitors' strategies, in particular, flexibility and features of the choice of pricing policy, price variation depending on consumer preferences and market factors, and the cost of analogous goods. The fourth stage is determined by making a decision on the method for determining the retail value of your own goods. When choosing a pricing approach, the main criterion is to maximize profits. The fifth stage is the development of programs for adapting prices to systematically changing market conditions. Pricing policy at this stage consists of analyzing the factors influencing consumer demand, due to which the cost is adjusted. They can be supplemented by other conditions or combined with each other. The main difficulty of this stage is that most of them cannot be measured quantitatively.

Pricing policy in network marketing and demand factors

There are two prices in network marketing - distribution and client (sales). The distributor's retail profit is the difference between them, which is 20-30%. Products of a similar purpose in retail may have a higher or lower price. Pricing policy depends on many factors, but mostly on the following:

Dynamics of demand development;

Product life cycle stage;

Income level of potential consumers;

Prestige of the brand of the product being promoted;

Availability of analogues on the market;

Functional characteristics of the product;

Trends towards a crisis, the general state of the economy;

The need to attract additional labor and increase production capacity;

Increased wage and production costs.

Conclusion

The company's pricing policy is to determine the final cost of goods or services, the correctness and adequacy of which is assessed by consumers. The buyer, when forming his opinion about the price, analyzes only the optimal relationship between monetary terms and consumer value. Before using a particular pricing policy, an assessment of the general level of cost in everyday dynamics is required. Such information can be obtained from catalogs of other enterprises, statistical directories and other sources.

The essence of pricing policy is to provide the offered goods and services with the most optimal economic characteristics, which are able to adapt to the constantly changing market situation. Pricing policy is the most important part of the marketing program and provides the company with the following advantages:

1. Does not require additional.
2. Allows you to support other marketing methods for promoting products.
3. Stimulates sales by changing prices.

Stages of developing a pricing policy

Pricing policy is a price formation process that ensures the achievement of the following goals: profit maximization; consolidating market positions and penetrating new segments; creating a company's business reputation.
There are several stages for developing a pricing policy:

1. At the first stage, you should decide on the purpose of the pricing policy. This goal may contain a broad area of ​​business development or small prospects for the enterprise to reach a new level of sales.
2. The second stage is characterized by internal marketing research. As part of this analysis, an assessment is made of the production capacity of the equipment, labor costs, the cost of raw materials and supplies, the costs of transporting goods and the search for new distribution channels, the costs of marketing activities that stimulate sales, etc.
3. At the third stage, marketing research is carried out on the pricing strategies of competitors, namely, price levels for analogue products, price variations depending on changes in market factors and consumer preferences, flexibility of pricing policies and features of the choice of pricing strategies.
4. The fourth stage is determined by the method by which the retail price of own goods will be determined. The main criterion when choosing a pricing approach is to obtain the maximum possible profit.
5. At the fifth stage, programs are developed to adapt prices to constantly changing market conditions. At this stage, factors influencing consumer demand are analyzed, as a result of which the price needs to be adjusted. These factors include:
   • rising production costs and wages;
   • the need to increase production capacity and attract additional labor;
   • general state of the economy, trends towards a crisis;
   • product quality level;
   • a set of functional characteristics of a product;
   • availability of analogues on the market;
   • the prestige of the brand under which the product is promoted;
   • income level of potential consumers;
   • product life cycle stage;
   • dynamics of demand development;
   • type of market.
6. These factors can be combined with each other and supplemented by other conditions. The main difficulty of this stage is that most of these factors cannot be measured quantitatively.
7. The sixth stage is the final one, as it completes the price formation process with the final monetary expression of the value of the product.

The result of the pricing policy is the price, the adequacy and correctness of which must be judged by the consumer. When forming an opinion about the price, the buyer analyzes only the optimal relationship between the consumer value of the product and its monetary value.
Before using one or another pricing policy, one cannot ignore the general retail price level in its daily dynamics. This information can be obtained from statistical directories, catalogs of other enterprises and other sources. Pricing strategies are the practical application of pricing policy and represent decision-making regarding the introduction of the best price to the market, aimed at achieving the highest level of demand in conjunction with maximum profit. Pricing strategies are developed within the forecast period of time and have several modifications. Existing pricing strategies can be characterized by the following tasks:

• penetration into a specific market segment;
• consolidation of existing positions;
• maintaining demand;
• extending the product life cycle;
• obtaining the maximum possible profit;
• creating competitive advantages;
• development of intended market niches;
• formation of consumer demand;
• return on production costs;
• sales promotion, etc.

Types of Pricing Strategies

To solve these problems, the following pricing strategies are used:

1. “Skimming” strategy.
   This strategy is applicable mainly to a new product that has no analogues on the market. This product creates a unique need, which can only be satisfied by its unique properties and features. The retail price for such goods is set significantly higher than the cost price with the expectation of obtaining maximum profit at the first stage of the product life cycle. Later, the price gradually decreases, allowing each category of buyers to purchase a new product, paying for it as much as their financial capabilities allow. The successful implementation of the proposed strategy depends on the level of demand and consumer awareness of the benefits that he will receive after purchasing the product.
2. Market penetration strategy.
   This strategy is mainly used by firms that have recently entered the market. The essence of the strategy is to set the lowest possible prices for goods of own production. This approach often leads to some losses and leaves the company without profit. The main goal of this strategy is to attract the attention of consumers to the products of this organization and acquire loyal customers.
3. Differentiated pricing strategy.
   This strategy involves the development of heterogeneous prices for different localities and places of sale of goods. This approach may be due to different amounts of costs that the company incurs when delivering goods to one point or another. Prices developed within the framework of this strategy are proposed to be used in combination with incentive discounts and promotions.
4. Preferential pricing strategy.
   This strategy offers the same product to different categories of consumers at heterogeneous prices. With this approach, one should take into account the level of income and the degree of importance of a group of representatives of a particular target audience for the enterprise.
5. Psychological strategy.
   This strategy implies that the price of the product is not rounded to a whole value, but leaves a few kopecks after the decimal point. This approach allows the consumer to expect change, and also to think that this price was the result of careful calculations.
6. Wholesale pricing strategy.
   This strategy involves reducing prices to encourage one-time purchases of large quantities of goods.
7. Elastic price strategy.
   This strategy takes into account only the purchasing financial capabilities and characteristics of consumer preferences, on the basis of which the price is formed.
8. Prestige pricing strategy.
   This strategy involves setting high prices for goods that have a special level of quality.

An example of pricing strategy formation

As a practical example, let us consider the process of forming a pricing policy at company “A”.
Company “A” is an intermediary between the developer of software products on the 1C platform and their end user. Since prices for software are determined by the manufacturer, the development of pricing policies is carried out in terms of determining the cost of contracts for technical support of software products. The process of creating a pricing policy at company “A” can be represented in the following stages:

1. Determining the goals of the pricing policy.
   Taking into account the fact that the demand for service maintenance of software products is growing, and the labor and time resources at company “A” are not enough to satisfy the entire volume of consumer needs, the goal of the pricing policy will be formulated as follows: finding the optimal price for a comprehensive service agreement , ensuring the planned rate of profit and restraining rush demand.
2. Marketing research of internal production capabilities.
   The results of the analysis are presented in Table 1.
   

   Table 1

   Analysis of the production capacity of company "A"

   № p/p	Indicator name	Unit of measurement	Quantitative expression
   1.	Labor costs	rub.	100000
   2.	Number of technical support specialists	people	5
   3.	Average time spent per client (including round trip travel)	hour.	2
   4.	Utilities and communication services	rub.	5000
   5.	Settlements with suppliers	rub.	20000
   6.	Business expenses	rub.	10000
   7.	Other expenses	rub.	15000

   The monetary data given in Table 1 together constitute the minimum amount that Firm A must receive each month to cover the costs of running the company.
3. Marketing research of competitors' pricing strategies.
   The results of the analysis are shown in Table 2
   

   Table 2

   Analysis of competitors' pricing strategies The data provided reflects the prices for technical support contracts that competitors enter into with their consumers.
4. Deciding on the pricing method for your own service contracts and calculating the final price.
   Taking into account the above factors, the price for work under a service contract will be formed on the principle of focusing on greater profits.
   Company A has 80 regular customers. The average price for a service contract is 3,000 rubles. This approach to pricing brings company “A” monthly about 240,000 rubles in revenue. This amount covers costs and leaves a share of profits for business development. But technical support specialists do not have time to satisfy the needs of all clients on time, which is why conflicts periodically arise between company “A” and its consumers.
   To solve this problem, it was decided to increase the price of service contracts by 40% without changing the range of services provided to clients. Now the average price for a service contract is 4,200 rubles. As a result of this action, 15 clients refused to cooperate with company “A”. Now the average monthly revenue is 273,000 rubles, which exceeds the previous figure by 33,000 rubles. Thus, company “A” received most of the profit by reducing the time spent on servicing clients who are not ready to pay the established cost of service contracts.

The above strategies reflect a general approach to the practical value of pricing policy. However, when choosing the most optimal strategy, one should focus not only on the tasks assigned to the enterprise. Sometimes other factors play a decisive role in this process. For example, consumer demand for a given product.

The main goal of pricing policy in marketing- maximize profit for a given sales volume per unit of time. When developing a pricing policy, each enterprise independently determines for itself the tasks to be solved, which may be diametrically opposed, for example:

revenue maximization, when revenue is more important than profit. For example, for seasonal goods or goods with a limited shelf life;

price maximization, when the image of the product is more important than sales volumes. For example, to artificially limit demand due to the inability to satisfy it (demarketing);

maximizing sales volumes when market retention is more important than profit. For example, to retain or conquer a market;

increased competitiveness when sales volume is determined by price. For example, when selling goods with high elasticity of demand;

ensuring a given profitability, when maintaining profitability comes first. For example, in the production and sale of consumer goods.

Types of pricing policy

Cost-based pricing policy (setting prices by adding target profits to calculated production costs; setting prices with reimbursement of production costs). This is the easiest way to set your price.

Let's assume that the cost per unit of goods (production costs) is 100 rubles. The manufacturer intends to set a markup (planned profit) of 20% of the cost of the product. The final price of the product is calculated as follows:

This method is acceptable only if the price found with its help allows you to achieve the expected sales volume. This method, however, remains popular for a number of reasons.

First, this method does not require constant price adjustments in response to changes in demand.

Second, when all companies in an industry use this pricing method, prices are set at approximately the same level and price competition is minimized.

High price policy (price level policy; skimming policy). A pricing strategy that involves setting a high initial price for a new product to maximize profits from all market segments willing to pay the required price; provides less sales volume with more income per sale.

Companies entering the market with new products often set high prices for them in order to skim off profits layer by layer. The advantages of such a pricing policy include:

creating an image (image) of a quality product for the buyer as a result of a high initial price, which makes it easier to sell in the future when the price decreases;

ensuring a sufficiently large profit margin at relatively high costs in the initial period of product release;

facilitating changes in price levels, since buyers perceive price reductions more favorably than price increases.

The main disadvantages of this pricing policy are that its implementation is usually limited in time. A high price level encourages competitors to quickly create similar products or their substitutes. Therefore, an important task is to determine the moment when it is necessary to start lowering prices in order to suppress the activity of competitors, stay in the developed market and conquer its new segments.

Market penetration policy (p Breakthrough Politics; low price policy). A pricing strategy that involves setting a relatively low price for a new product to attract the maximum number of buyers and gain a larger market share.

Not all companies start by setting high prices for new products; most turn to to market penetration. In order to quickly and deeply penetrate the market, i.e. quickly attract the maximum number of buyers and gain a large market share, they set a relatively low price for the new product. A company using such prices takes a certain risk, expecting that the growth in sales volume and income will cover the loss of profit due to a decrease in the price per unit of goods. This type of pricing policy is available for large firms with large production volumes.

To set low prices, the following conditions are necessary:

the market should be highly price sensitive, then a low price will lead to increased sales;

with an increase in sales volumes, production and sales costs should decrease;

the price must be so low that the company can avoid competition, otherwise the price advantage will be short-lived.

Market segmentation policy (differentiated pricing policy; differentiated pricing). A type of pricing in which a product is sold at several different prices without taking into account differences in costs.

Differential pricing takes several forms. Price differentiation by type of consumer means that different categories of consumers pay different prices for the same product or service depending on their financial situation. Losses or shortfalls in profit from selling goods at low prices to less wealthy buyers are compensated by selling them at high prices to buyers whose level of wealth allows this. Museums, for example, give discounts to students and pensioners.

At price differentiationby type of goods Different product variants are priced differently, but the difference is not based on differences in costs.

Price differentiation by location means that a company charges different prices for the same product in different regions, even if the costs of production and distribution in these regions do not differ. For example, theaters charge different prices for different seats based on the preferences of the public.

At price differentiationby time prices vary depending on the season, month, day of the week and even time of day. Prices for utility services provided to commercial organizations vary depending on the time of day, and on weekends they are lower than on weekdays. Phone companies offer reduced rates at night, and resorts offer seasonal discounts.

For differential pricing to be effective, certain conditions must exist:

the market must be segmentable, and the segments must differ in level of demand;

consumers of the segment that received a lower price should not be able to resell the product to consumers of other segments where the price is higher;

in the segment to which the company offers a product at a higher price, there should be no competitors who could sell the same product cheaper;

costs associated with segmenting the market and monitoring its condition should not exceed the additional profit received due to the difference in prices for goods in different segments;

Setting differential prices must be legal.

Psychological pricing policy (non-rounded price policy). One of the types of pricing that takes into account not only the economic component, but also the psychological impact of price; price is used as a source of information about the product.

Price is one way to communicate certain information about a product. Thus, many buyers judge the quality of a product primarily by its price. A bottle of perfume that costs 3,000 rubles may contain only 100 rubles worth of perfume, but there are many buyers who are willing to pay these 3,000 rubles, because such a price says a lot.

For example, according to one study examining the relationship between perceptions of price and quality, more expensive cars are perceived by consumers as being of higher quality.

Target rate of return policy is carried out in cases where the market does not offer a fundamentally new product, but some kind of mass product that has been produced for many years, but is modernized from time to time. Prices are set on the basis of profit margins, which are determined based on production costs, prices and sales volumes for a number of recent years, as well as taking into account the competitive position occupied by the company in the market.

Follow-the-leader policy(price leader policy)

Using this approach in pricing new products does not at all imply setting prices for new products of your enterprise in strict accordance with the price level of the leading company on the market. The point here is only to take into account the price policy of the leader in the industry or market. The price of a new product may deviate from the price of the leading company, but only within certain limits. These limits are determined by the qualitative and technical superiority of your company’s products over the products of leading companies on the market. And the fewer differences in your company's new products compared to the majority of products offered in a particular market, the closer the price level for new products is to the “standards” set by the industry leader.

And pricing tactics. Pricing strategy involves positioning the proposed product on the market. There are various approaches to determining the target segment and building a strategy (Ansoff matrix, BCG matrix, Porter matrix). Also, as part of the pricing strategy, the methods used to determine (establish) prices, as well as forms of price discrimination, are selected.

In the future, as part of the implementation of the strategy, tactical measures(to stimulate sales), including systems of price discounts and non-price incentives for buyers.

During the implementation of pricing policy, the company's management must adjust immediate activities and monitor the timing of strategy changes. Prices are actively used in competition to ensure a sufficient level of profit. Determining the prices of goods and services is one of the most important problems of any enterprise, since the optimal price can ensure its financial well-being. The pricing policy pursued largely depends on the type of goods or services offered by the enterprise. It is formed in close connection with planning the production of goods or services, identifying consumer requests, and stimulating sales. The price should be set in such a way that, on the one hand, it satisfies the needs and requirements of customers, and on the other hand, it helps to achieve the goals set by the enterprise, which is to ensure the receipt of sufficient financial resources. Pricing policy is aimed at establishing prices for goods and services depending on the current market conditions, which will allow the enterprise to obtain the volume of profit planned by the enterprise and solve other strategic and operational tasks.

As part of the overall pricing policy, decisions are made in accordance with the position in the target market of the enterprise, methods and marketing structure. The general pricing policy provides for the implementation of coordinated actions aimed at achieving the long- and short-term goals of the enterprise. At the same time, its management determines the general pricing policy, linking individual decisions into an integrated system: the relationship between the prices of goods within the company’s product range, the frequency of using special discounts and price changes, the ratio of prices to the prices of competitors, the choice of method for setting prices for new products.

Determining the pricing policy is based on the following questions:

• what price a buyer would pay for the product;
• How does a change in price affect sales volume?
• what are the constituent cost components;
• what is the nature of competition in the market segment;
• what should be the level of the threshold price (minimum) that ensures the company’s break-even;
• what discount can be provided to customers;
• Will delivery of goods and other additional services affect the increase in sales volume?

The general policy of the enterprise should ultimately be aimed at meeting specific human needs. However, if the consumer hesitates which product to give preference to, often based on unconscious considerations, the enterprise, through an active marketing policy, should try to influence his choice in favor of its products. Therefore, determining the pricing policy is one of the most important areas of practical activity of an enterprise, since under any conditions it is unacceptable to set prices without a serious analysis of the possible consequences of each of the options for resolving this issue.

Pricing policy reflects the general goals of the company that it seeks to achieve by setting the prices of its products. Pricing policy is the general principles that an enterprise intends to adhere to in setting prices for its goods or services.

Using various pricing methods, a specific price is set depending on certain circumstances or goals. To make a final decision on pricing, the manager must consider all proposed pricing options. In the process of setting product prices, an enterprise (firm) must clearly define the goals it wants to achieve. The clearer the understanding of them, the easier it is to set prices for new products. Possible goals of pricing policy include:

• ensuring the survival of the company;
• maximizing current profits;
• gaining leadership in terms of market share;
• gaining leadership in terms of “product quality”;
• skimming policy;
• short-term increase in product sales volumes.

When analyzing a competitor's price, the main attention should be paid to the system of discounts that it provides. In world practice, there are about 20 types of price discounts:

• Bonus discounts for turnover are given to regular customers depending on sales turnover.
• Progressive discounts are provided to the buyer for quantity, volume of purchase, serial number.
• An exchange credit or discount is provided for the return of an old product previously purchased from a given company.
• Export discount when selling goods for export.
• Functional discounts or trade discounts are provided to manufacturers by product distribution services for performing certain functions.
• Special discounts are given by the seller to those buyers in whom the seller is more interested.
• Hidden discounts are provided to the buyer in the form of free samples (samples, etc.).

State pricing policy

Price restrictions

They are used by the government to contain inflation (in France in the 1960s as part of indicative planning), as well as to support low-income citizens in conditions of high inflation (restrictions on the rise in prices for essential goods).

Pricing policy — An extremely important tool for a manufacturing company, however, its use is fraught with risk, since if handled ineptly, the most unpredictable and negative results in terms of their economic consequences can be obtained. And it is absolutely unacceptable for a company to have no pricing policy as such.

In order to differentiate these factors in the process of determining a new pricing policy, one should rely on clearly formulated main company-wide and marketing goals for a given fairly long period. In other words, when developing and implementing a new pricing policy, one should be based on the strategic guidelines of the company and the tasks determined by them. Figure 13.1 shows a relatively broad set of pricing policy objectives. Of course, it does not at all follow from it that a company, even a very large one, strives to achieve all of the listed goals (the number of which, by the way, can be significantly expanded): firstly, simultaneous work to achieve them is ineffective due to the dispersal of forces and means; secondly, there are mutually exclusive goals - for example, obtaining maximum profit during the period of large-scale development of new markets, which requires large expenditures of funds.

Figure 13.1 - Main goals of pricing policy

The nature of the company’s goals and objectives is reflected in the features of the pricing policy: the larger, more diverse and difficult to achieve the general company goals, strategic objectives and objectives in the field of marketing, the more complex the goals and objectives of the pricing policy, which, in addition, depends on size of the company, product differentiation policy, industry of the company.

Let us list several aspects of pricing policy formation:

· determining the place of price among other factors of market competition;

· application of methods to help optimize estimated prices;

· choice of a leadership strategy or a strategy of following the leader when setting prices;

· determining the nature of the pricing policy for new products;

· formation of a pricing policy that takes into account the phases of the life cycle;

· use of base prices when working in different markets and segments;

· taking into account in the pricing policy the results, comparative analysis of the “cost/profit” and “cost/quality” ratios for one’s own company and competing companies.

Pricing policy presupposes the need for a company to establish an initial (base) price for its goods, which it reasonably varies when working with intermediaries and buyers.

The general scheme for determining such a price is as follows:

1) formulation of pricing objectives;

2) determination of demand;

3) cost estimation;

4) analysis of prices and products of competitors;

5) choice of pricing methods;

6) establishing a base price.

Subsequently, when working in markets with different and changing conditions, a system of price modifications is developed.

Price modification system:

1. Price modifications based on geography take into account the requirements of consumers of individual regions of the country, occupying large territories, or individual countries in the markets of which the company operates.

In this case, five main geographic strategy options are used:

- strategy 1: manufacturer's selling price at the place of production (ex-factory). Transportation costs are borne by the buyer (customer). The disadvantages and advantages of such a strategy for the seller and buyer are obvious;

- strategy 2: single price. The manufacturer sets a single price for all consumers, regardless of their location. This pricing strategy is the opposite of the previous one. In this case, consumers located in the most remote areas benefit in price;

- strategy 3: zonal prices. This pricing strategy occupies an intermediate position between the first two. The market is divided into zones, and consumers within each zone pay the same price. The disadvantage of the strategy is that in territories located near the conventional boundaries of zone division, prices for goods differ significantly;

- strategy 4: accrual to all buyers, regardless of the actual place of dispatch of the goods, of additional freight costs to the starting price, accrued from the selected basis point to the buyer’s location. In the process of implementing this strategy, the manufacturer may consider several cities as a base point (freight basis);

- strategy 5: payment of freight costs (part of them) at the expense of the manufacturer. It is used as a method of competition to enter new markets or maintain its position in the market when competition intensifies. By fully or partially paying for the delivery of goods to their destination, the manufacturer creates additional advantages for himself and thereby strengthens his position in comparison with competitors.

2. Price modifications through a discount system in the form of discounts (discount for payment in cash or before the due date), wholesale discounts (price reduction when purchasing a large quantity of goods), functional discounts (trade discounts provided to intermediary firms and agents included in the manufacturer’s sales network), seasonal discounts (offer after - or pre-season discounts), other discounts (offset of the price of similar old goods handed over by the buyer; discounts on the occasion of a holiday, etc.).

3. Modification of prices to stimulate sales carried out in a variety of forms: bait price (a sharp temporary reduction in prices in retail trade for well-known brands); prices set for the duration of special events (valid only during certain events or when using special forms of offering goods - seasonal or other sales); premiums (cash payments to the final buyer who purchased the product in retail and presented the manufacturer with a coupon); favorable interest rates when selling on credit (a form of sales promotion without price reduction; widely used in the automotive industry); warranty terms and maintenance agreements (may be included in the price by the manufacturer; services are provided free of charge or on preferential terms); psychological price modification (the possibility of offering your own similar product at a lower price, for example, the price tag may indicate: “Price reduction from 500 thousand to 400 thousand rubles”).

4. Price discrimination occurs when a manufacturer offers the same products at different prices. The main forms of discrimination, which are often an integral part of pricing policy, are: modification of prices depending on the consumer segment (the same product is offered to different categories of consumers at different prices); modification of prices depending on the forms of the product and differences in its use (with small differences in the forms of production and use, the price can be significantly differentiated, and with constant production costs); modification of prices depending on the image of the company and its specific product; differentiation of prices depending on location (for example, selling the same product in the city center, on its outskirts, in rural areas); modification of prices depending on time (for example, telephone tariffs may depend on the time of day and days of the week).

However, price discrimination justifies itself if the following conditions are met: its compliance with the law, inconspicuous conduct, a clear division of the market into segments, exclusion or reduction to a minimum of the possibility of resale of “discriminated” goods, the costs of segmentation and market control do not exceed additional revenues from price discrimination .

The pricing policy of the producer company, stated in a concise form, mainly reflects global practice. However, as market relations develop in Russia, domestic producers begin to develop and use a thoughtful pricing policy that takes into account the specifics of local conditions.

The main material goal of European business, embodied in its pricing policy, is making a profit. Other goals (maximum possible turnover, maximum possible sales) are of subordinate importance. The predominance of one or another material goal depends significantly on the size of the company. Thus, approximately 55% of small firms named “profits commensurate with costs” and “profits characteristic of the entire industry” as their goals, while large firms named “maximum profits.” Responses varied significantly across industries. For example, the goal of “profit commensurate with costs” was most often mentioned in the textile and clothing industry, the market of which had already passed the stage of maturity, and the desire for “maximum profit” was characteristic of representatives of the fields of electronics, electrical engineering and precision mechanics, the market of which is at the stage of dynamic development.

Two-thirds of the surveyed firms stated their desire to expand market share in the profile of their main products - moreover, they consider achieving this goal to be realistically achievable; 3/4 of surveyed firms from industries whose markets are in a growth stage would like to increase their market share. In weaker industries, more than half of the surveyed firms would only like to maintain their achieved market share. In addition, according to the survey, large firms with strong market positions (80% of firms) seek to further strengthen them - among small businesses this share is 60%

Decisions to introduce a new product also depend on the size of the firms. Small firms usually decide to develop a new product only if they have a specific order for it. Large firms, having significant financial reserves and the ability to maneuver, make appropriate decisions after conducting large-scale marketing research and market experiments.