Virgin Mobile USA: Pricing for the Very First Time
Write an essay about pricing strategy in Virgin Mobile USA using the information in the two files in pdf I will upload (if you think it will be necessary, you can use other sources as well). It is important to answer the following questions (use them as guideline to write the essay):
1) What are the customer segments that my product/service will meet? (If appropriate, also consider the existence of different categories of "buyers", for example, the end user x payer x influencer; end user x distribution channel.)
2) What circumstances make these customers more/less sensitive to price?
3) What attributes are important for each segment?
4) How do customers evaluate this segment/judge these attributes? How can I influence their perception of the benefits of my product?
5) How does my product compare to competitors and substitutes? Ex: attributes and prices as well as other costs for the customer to buy/use/discard my product (ex: physical or mental stress, inconvenience, psychological distress, risks and consequences of possible failures etc.) How could I expand the perception of my benefits and minimize the costs of these other customers, in order to be able to justify my price?
6) The payer and the user/consumer are the same person/company? If not, there would be differences in the benefits sought by each and costs faced by each in the process of buying/using?
7) What will be my general policy of price: premium, based on competition or economic? Justify your answer.
8) How do my costs behave?
– Fixed vs. variables
– Economies of scale
– Economies of scope
– Magnitude of the costs
– Is it possible to restructure the way some activities are carried out to transform fixed costs activities into variable or vice-versa? What are the advantages/disadvantages?
9) How do I treat the other variables of the marketing mix in order to give support to my pricing?
10) What are the variables in the macro-environment (economic, political-legal, socio-demographic, ecological, etc.) that could influence the behavior of buyers, the actions of competitors or the costs of my company?
11) (If it is the case of a company that offers various products/services) Discuss the degree of consistency and mutual reinforcement of its pricing policies across its various product lines.