Discussion

Why the EpiPen Price Scandal Sums Up Everything We Hate About Big Business & Politics

Pricing is a tricky topic in marketing. You obviously want your price to be high enough to cover your costs. You also want your price to be high enough to match the impression you want your customers to have about the quality and exclusivity of your product. Ideally, from a business standpoint, you want your price to be as high as it can be without alienating your customers. Companies run into a lot of trouble when their prices are perceived as unfairly high though. One example of this problem was the Epi-pen pricing scandal in 2016. See the article below for additional details on that one and the associated public outrage.

Pick a product with an interesting pricing strategy or one which has been the subject of a pricing scandal. This could be a product you are familiar with or one which you have researched to learn about (make sure you reference your source) Discuss their pricing strategy and the impact it has had on their relationship with their customers and their reputation. What would you do differently, if anything, if you were the one doing the pricing. Keep in mind that even though it would make us very happy as consumers if every company's strategy was setting their price a little bit lower than all of the other options; from a business standpoint, that is rarely the best strategy.