pricing

pricing pric‧ing [ˈpraɪsɪŋ] noun [uncountable]

1. COMMERCE the prices of a company's products or services in relation to each other and in relation to those of their competitors, and the activity of setting them:

• Aggressive pricing (= cheaper prices than its competitors' ) helped increase the airline's passenger traffic by 10% for the year.

• Weak demand for chemical products has led to competitive pricing and poor sales margins.

• the gas industry's new pricing agreement (= arrangement between sellers and buyers )

• The drug company's pricing policies have been the subject of inquiries by a federal grand jury.

• Apple's new, sharply lower pricing strategy fueled an enormous increase in unit sales.

• Pontiac plans to launch a revised ad campaign and pricing structure (= prices in relation to each other ) for next year's models.

ˌcommon ˈpricing LAW COMMERCE

when companies agree to charge the same prices as each other, often illegally:

• Bus operators are prevented from establishing common pricing under legislation that deregulated the bus industry.

— see also price-fixing

ˈdiscount ˌpricing COMMERCE MARKETING

when prices of a company's products are lower than normal:

• Discount pricing that began last summer requires heavy marketing expenditures.

peneˈtration ˌpricing COMMERCE MARKETING

the practice of offering a product at a very low price in order to start selling in a new market so that a market share can be built up

ˈpredatory ˌpricing COMMERCE MARKETING

the practice of selling something for less than it costs to produce. This is often done to increase market share (= a company's proportion of a market) and to drive competitors out of the market:

• They argue that the 10% discount on long-distance calls amounts to predatory pricing against other telecommunications companies.

2. when competitors illegally agree to charge the same price for something; = PRICE-FIXING

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pricing UK US /ˈpraɪsɪŋ/ noun [U] (also product pricing)

► COMMERCE, MARKETING the way that a company decides prices for its products or services, or the prices decided: »

Hong Kong's printing industry is renowned for quality, quick delivery, and competitive pricing.

pricing policy/strategy »

The company launched an aggressive pricing strategy to stay competitive.

»

a pricing structure/system

→ See also COMMON PRICING(Cf. ↑common pricing), DISCOUNT PRICING(Cf. ↑discount pricing), DUAL PRICING(Cf. ↑dual pricing), MARKET-PENETRATION PRICING(Cf. ↑market-penetration pricing), MULTIPLE PRICING(Cf. ↑multiple pricing), PENETRATION PRICING(Cf. ↑penetration pricing)