Pricing Strategies - Penetration Pricing

Penetration pricing involves the setting of lower, rather than higher prices in order to achieve a large, if not dominant market share.

This strategy is most often used businesses wishing to enter a new market or build on a relatively small market share.

This will only be possible where demand for the product is believed to be highly elastic, i.e. demand is price-sensitive and either new buyers will be attracted, or existing buyers will buy more of the product as a result of a low price.

A successful penetration pricing strategy may lead to large sales volumes/market shares and therefore lower costs per unit. The effects of economies of both scale and experience lead to lower production costs, which justify the use of penetration pricing strategies to gain market share. Penetration strategies are often used by businesses that need to use up spare resources (e.g. factory capacity).

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