Reduce Price to Improve Revenues and Margins

CHOICE 1 OBJECTIVE: ATTRACT CUSTOMERS

CHOICE 2 SEGMENTS: LOSS LEADER SEGMENT / A SINGLE-YEAR ROUND PRODUCT

CHOICE 3 COMPONENT: PROVIDE A FREE, OR HEAVILY DISCOUNTED, PRODUCT FROM THE COMPANY, OTHER THAN THE PRODUCT ON SALE

No.	SIC	Year	Notes
1	1542	2009	The owner and president of Nucor Construction Corp., a New York company that remodels office spaces, retail stores and bank branches. The owner has been providing free consultation services, such as visiting places that long-time customers are considering leasing to give them his opinion. With his customers turning more cost conscious, he is putting in more hours than before to ferret out the most affordable subcontractors.
2	4724	2009	Shop for airline tickets online or through a travel agent and the price quotes you get don't tell the whole story these days. But that's about to change. Sabre Holdings Corp. and Amadeus IT Group SA, two leading airline booking companies, say they'll have tools out to travel agents, Web sites and airlines beginning later this year that will add fees consumers plan to use into ticket prices, showing bottom-line prices much as car-rental companies were pressured into showing the total price of a rental with all fees, taxes and surcharges included.
3	4724	2009	Shop for airline tickets online or through a travel agent and the price quotes you get don't tell the whole story these days. But that's about to change. TripAdvisor, a company owned by Expedia Inc. that built a following collecting traveler's hotel and destination reviews, added airline ticket search capabilities to its site on Feb. 27 and unveiled a "fee estimator" that can re-rank prices based on how many bags you plan to check. The fee estimator, developed in-house by TripAdvisor, can also calculate expected fees for each flight for meals, drinks, snacks and headsets.
4	5331	2009	Wal-Mart is slashing the price of its reloadable prepaid Visa debit card. The company is attempting to attract new customers, specifically those who have maxed their credit cards and are being crushed by debt. It dropped the purchase price of its MoneyCard from $9 to $4, reducing the monthly fee to $3 from $5. Plus, customers who add money to the card with direct deposit or after cashing their paychecks at Wal-Mart don't have to pay a reload fee.
5	5531	2002	Autozone hopes to get a boost from pushing the service side of its business. It will check your engine for free and tell you what's wrong with your car.
6	5812	2009	Restaurant chains are offering more aggressive promotional deals as they try to tempt diners in lean times. Denny's announced an incentive for customers who bring in a friend on April 8: the friend will get a free grand "Slamwich," a new breakfast sandwich.
7	5912	2009	On Apr. 1, Take Care clinics in 343 Walgreens stores started seeing existing patients free from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays as long as they show they're unemployed and uninsured. Data systems determined when the clinics weren't busy and could offer free care at minimal additional cost.
8	5941	2001	Zane's Cycles in Branford, Connecticut, is a successful independent bicycle retailer in the United States. It has grown its one-store business at least 20% every year since its founding in 1981, selling 4,250 bicycles in 2000 along with accessories. Zane's sells better bike brands with prices starting at $250. It backs what it sells with a 30-day test-drive offer (customers can return a bike within 30 days and exchange it for another) and a 90-day price protection guarantee (if a buyer finds the same bike in Connecticut at a lower price within 90 days, it will refund the difference plus 10 percent). Zane's also offers free lifetime service on all new bikes. That includes annual tune-ups, brake and gear adjustments, wheel straightening, and more Zane says. "Our customers trust us. They come in and say, `I am here to get a bike. What do I need?' They have confidence in our ability to find them just the right bike at a fair price and to stand behind what we sell."
9	7533	2009	Driven by a reluctance to buy a new car, Americans are making more stops for repairs. A quick $20 oil change with free tire rotation is now standard. It gets customers in the door and lets the staff sell scheduled maintenance and other necessary repairs.

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