Reduce Price to Improve Revenues and Margins

CHOICE 1 OBJECTIVE: REWARD CUSTOMERS

CHOICE 2 SEGMENTS: COMPANY REVENUE IMPROVEMENT SEGMENT / USE A THIRD PARTY PRODUCT ON WHICH THE COMPANY RECEIVES REVENUE

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

No. SIC Year Notes
1 1521 2005 In response to a softening market, home builders are offering increased incentives, including 1-5% off of closing costs, premium features in the home, swimming pools and golf-club memberships. However, the financial incentives often require the homebuyer to finance through a specified lender. Customers looking for deals should ask for upgrades rather than discounts.
2 4724 2009 Trip advisor boasts a new feature that allows travelers looking for low fares to compare fees for baggage, meals and other services. The website, owned by Expedia (EXPE), hopes to challenge Kayak, the top aggregator of travel information. Users are asked to click on the fee estimator and then asked basic questions: How many bags will be checked? Are you a member of a frequent flyer program? Would you like in-flight services? The cost of the services is then added to the ticket price and users are re-directed to other sites to buy the ticket.
3 4813 1998 BroadPoint Communications is offering free long-distance service to people willing to listen to recorded ads. BroadPoint's FreeWay service gives callers two minutes of domestic long-distance service for every 10- to 15-second ad they listen to.
4 5311 2007 Luxury retailers are working to encourage loyalty by offering big spenders additional perks rather than attracting new customers. However, these services often require hefty spending and are subject to restrictions. Interest rates on store cards are often very high. Saks Fifth Avenue introduced a Saks World Elite MasterCard which allows shoppers to earn points on money spent outside the store. Benefits include free fur storage and special treatment aboard luxury cruise lines.
5 7372 2009 Microsoft foresees that most customers will pay for the new Office 2010 suite the way they always have. Less powerful, ad-supported versions will be available for free on the Web. The company is also charging a monthly fee for online applications such as the e-mail program Exchange, which is about a third as profitable as selling the software on CDs.

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