Yes – whether you are a maker or reseller, a little nudge to your current pricing of your computer games shop offerings or other software/hardware offers could just be the thing to double your bottom line; this much we can easily agree on, but how do you know the if, when and how much to do this, before your product launch, or – for an existing computer game shop stock – without the fear of toppling your on-going business? Indeed, how do we ever know anything for certain throughout the whole process that is product (or service) value development?

And how about your holiday (etc) offers? Do you ever know for a fact if tuning that traffic-building (online or off) 40% off on your “Craft of War” title, down to a cozy 25% will actually hurt overall profits, anything close to what the added straight-to –the bottom-line $3 apiece will offset? How much really, is your computer game shop leaving on the table?

While this article is not quite a push for newer, better methods of calculating profits vs. price, it is a delve into the human angle as it affects sales (and profits) prediction. This relationship usually entails less of proportionality (i.e. lower prices mostly meaning more sales, and vice-versa), and more of decision (am I gonna buy this stuff, or not?). More on this...

How do you… Make your price sell?
The successful producer of an article sells it for more than it cost him to make, and that’s his profit. But the customer buys it only because it is worth more to him than he pays for it, and that’s his profit. No one can long make a profit producing anything unless the customer makes a profit using it.
-Samuel Pettengill, U.S. Congressman, 1930s

In pricing a good or service generally, we have to first decide on, and adhere to a definite pricing model, as conjectural or in-between pricing will - sooner or later - leave us in that no-man’s-land that has become the fate of too many failed businesses. Luckily, there are just three general models to choose from:

•Top pricing (for low-volume high-priced offers, luxury goods, professional services)
•Penetration pricing (to quickly establish market share, or dominance)
•Pricing for maximum profit.

A computer game shop owner usually operates within the third (or second) realms – depending on individual business realities. Whichever model we choose –or have to operate in, it is more and more crucial in today’s fast-paced business environment, to:

1 – Know that price point at which your customer makes a profit by buying your product. The keyword is of course… know. Not “guess” or “gut feel” or “ball park”… know.

2 – be able to take decisions that maximize your resources and opportunities at each point, based on an exact pre-knowledge of outcomes.

Wouldn’t it be just fabulous to know that your (new) price is indeed your #1 high-powered salesman, bringing in the maximal income for your chosen business plan, while building you the most customer satisfaction and base? More on this...

Of course if you are a Fortune 500 company… you could just… hire a $5,000 Price consultant. Terrific! Budget wins again! But even then… How do you crosscheck his figures? How do you know for sure that he… Got it just right? Or is it possible we’re all doomed to the vagueness and conjecture that is the entire terrain of product value determination?

Tomorrow’s stock quotes – Today!
Yes we do appear to be asking too much sometimes, don’t we, in needing to know decidedly, how well our computer game shop is going to sell tomorrow, based on each price we set today. Thankfully though, a review of some established commonsense principles – and a bit of new technology – go to show us that this might not be so impossible after all! In fact, it is actually… a totally self do-able process, fully set-up in under an hour Preposterous!

The art of pricing
In pricing goods or services, you would - traditionally - consider its features and benefits (actually, perceived value is the more appropriate term), production costs, what the competition is charging, customers’ disposable income as well as feedback from sales. These and other variables are usually run through an effectively not-too-defined chain of processes that, at base, leans – to a disturbing extent – on gut feeling, to come up with “the number”.

In turning this art to science however, it has become more important (central, actually), to build our computer game shops' pricing strategies around a phenomenon called… the teeter point. This is the price at which your ideal customer hovers undecidedly, effectively digging out and putting back their credit card, in a bid to make up their mind. Price a bit higher than this, and you lose the sale, price slightly less and… You are sure of clinching the deal!

If we are to advance beyond the traditional magic cauldron approach to pricing, we must – of necessity – be able to determine with precision each time, what this point is for our ideal computer game shop visitor, as this is the only buyer-oriented foundation for generating: unit sales vs. price, gross dollar sales vs. price, gross profit vs. price, price resistance, product impact, and other charts that will actually read… like tomorrow, and which will be all crucial to determining the perfect price for your business objectives. More on this...

Smart Technology – put to use!
What else would you expect from the folks who brought us MYSS ! 2002 (downloadable) , the 1,500 paged giant-killer that at just under US$27, is generally recognized as *the* single best resource for selling on the net? How about a server-side software tool that puts the pricing power of the Fortune 500’s within easy reach of every other serious individual and business out there – on the net, and off.

Being server-side, there is no new software to download and learn. All you have to do is log-into the server, introduce and set-up the name, features and category of your product (i.e.- computer game shop), into their patent-pending, six-question questionnaire, test it (you will be given online directions), and all in under an hour from now (no, not weeks), your survey will be… up and running – off your existing website, or off a page that could be created in minutes. You’ll also find an option for people who don’t have a website, or would rather gather their information offline.

Whatever your choice, you can expect to have all your survey data in, about 2-3 days from now, complete with all the (tomorrow-stock-quotes!) charts: Unit sales vs. price, Gross dollar sales vs. price, Gross profit vs. price, customer price resistance, product impact, customer net buying profile, fair price and others, with explanations and profitability analyses that fully empower you to take an enlightened decision, fitting to your business strategy, that will:

1. Maximize your income for your chosen business plan. 2. Fulfill the value-expectations of your customers. 3. Maximize your customer base at this chosen decision. Now, how’s that for smart technology – that keeps all the “Tech” away from you, and lets you focus on what you do best … running a great computer game shop!

For a computer game shop owner, there is absolutely no other feeling like when the lights are turned on, in your computer game business. Click here to see how it all works, and to set up your own survey. Feel the power of knowing!