Monthly Archives: November 2013

You would normally think, that good books  – especially business books have a comparable value (and price) in many countries. At least I thought his until I was looking at Amazon (German Shop) for a book of my favorite pricing author, Tom Nagle. His book – “Strategy and Tactics of Pricing” – IMHO one of the best pricing books ever  – costs

more than 60 € for the English edition and

less than 6€ (!) for the German edition.

What could be the reasons for this significant price difference? It can`t be cost reasons. The other way around it would have made maybe sense arguing, with costs of translating the book into German and probably having a much smaller number of printed copies.

The low price could be the result of a stock clearing – if there is no demand for the book in the German business world. Does this in consequence mean, that the Germans are less interested in Pricing?

Well, I guess I will never understand it – nevertheless I used the opportunity and bought myself a copy and gave it as a gift to a colleague – well invested money for me. The vendor didm`t make a good deal. I would have paid much more for this excellent book -he “left money on the table”

Yes, they did! I guess we all made at least once the experience, that gas stations are good and dynamic pricers. Just imagine, you fill the tank of your car and in the afternoon, the gas price is lowered by 8 cents / litre. Of course it won`t ruin us, if I have to pay 4 € more, but nevertheless we all feel a little bit annoyed and cheated, don`t we?

However last month, I faced a situation, which really let my pulse go up. I had to fill gas and I guess it was the wrong time because the price was already quite high – 1,49 € / liter.

But when I came back from the cashier, I realized that the price was lowered in the meantime by 2 cent – and this really annoyed me.

In total amount I just “lost” 1 €, but I was so mad at this gas station, I ignored them at least for four weeks.

The lesson I learned from this experience:

price fairness is not rationally linked with the total amount involved, rather it is about the feeling to be treated in an incorrect way (you could also call it “being ripped off”) and motivates you to strike back.

Is is amazing how fascinating prices can be. Prices make people happy if they are low and angry if they are too high. They can surprise you, if they are different than you have expected them to be. Some prices are static over time and some change every second.

Everybody of us is in touch with prices everyday – during our job – as a salesman or purchaser, during our private life when we buy products. Sometimes we understand prices and sometimes we don`t understand them at all.

Hi, I am Ingo and in this blog, I want to share with you the interesting experiences I make with prices and pricing.

Enjoy reading

Ingo