Trend towards moving sales online

The trend to move sales online is not new, but is accelerating and is more successful when price communication is planned. There are many benefits to shifting your sales online such as:

  • Improved operational planning & resource allocation
  • Simplification of purchasing decision & process
  • Availability of more purchase data for use in marketing activities & strategic planning
  • Earlier access to revenue.

At Smart Pricer, we have found clear and consistent price communication is a major factor in making the shift to successful online sales. Those companies who communicate transparently the prices and reasons for change to clients see the benefits listed above as well as others. Below are some examples of how we helped our clients to communicate the benefits of their price changes to their end customers. For more information download our case studies here or contact us at info@smartpricer.com.

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Cinema Park

Cinema Park is Russia’s largest theater chain. Smart Pricer worked with them to implement dynamic pricing and, during the rollout, focused on how the Cinema Park marketing team could best communicate the change in ticket types and prices to the end customers.

To ensure understanding, Cinema Park made three significant changes to their price communication. First they added the definition of the new ticket types to their website. Next they added the benefits of the new ticket types and pricing scheme, explaining to the end customers the increased value obtained by booking earlier and online. Lastly, they made changes to their box office system, color-coding the shows making it easy to tell the difference in prices between the shows.

In the end, the effort paid off. Cinema Park increased their online share, average ticket price (ATP), and overall customer satisfaction. More details can be found in the case study here.

Chocoversum

Chocoversum by Hachez is a Hamburg Chocolate museum that provides guided tours on the history of chocolate and its manufacturing. They partnered with Smart Pricer in 2017 to implement a variable pricing strategy to stabilize their demand.

To accomplish this goal Chocoversum made significant updates to their online store, illustrating the best deal to their end customers. They also spent time educating their employees on the reasons for the changes, ensuring that any employee could easily answer questions about the reasons for the change.

Eventually, they successfully shifted to a variable pricing strategy that provided an increase to ATP and online share with an average booking time of two days earlier. They also shifted demand from peak to off peak times, improving resource allocation and guest experience. Find more details in the case study here.

EV Zug

EV Zug is a leading Swiss hockey team. In 2019 they shifted from static price lists to dynamic pricing and took the impressive step of moving to a real time automated pricing solution where ticket prices are updated based on actual demand.

Initially the price communication announcement included none of the potential benefits to the end customers or the reasoning for the change. This resulted in an immediate outcry from fans who were scared that this would mean that prices would go only higher with no end in sight. To counter the reaction and reassure their fanbase, the CEO quickly communicated the positive impacts. He explained that, with the new system, ticket prices would be between 30% cheaper and up to 10% more expensive. He worked vigorously to clarify their goals and intentions, and reassure the fanbase.  

The benefits were immediate and apparent. ATP and revenue increased and the stadium was full even for less popular matches. Find more details on EV Zug here.