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Squeeze more profits from prices
Packaging firms create $3bn giant
Carlsberg raises shareholding in Okocim
Management Ventures taps IRI for consumer data
Pricing
Squeeze
more profits from prices
Suppliers and retailers alike may
be giving away more than they need to when it comes to pricing. But some
are trying to win back margin by pricing smarter, reports BusinessWeek.
The essence of the scheme is to
work out exactly when the cost of carrying the stock is higher than the
profit margin you make on selling it.
This takes some smart new software
and a lot of historical data, but selling more goods at higher prices than
previously soon pays for the cost of setting up the system.
The typical scenario is the
discounting that happens at the change of seasons. Retailers in countries
with wide variances in local climate may benefit most. For instance,
demand for soft drinks may rise between April and September in the south
of England, but people in the Shetland Isles might buy more only in July
and August. But most present pricing systems can only cope with a single
nation-wide price.
Similarly, the price of capital
goods such as vehicles and computers drops once news of new models leaks
out. The trick then is to start discounting sooner to attract new users,
but to keep the discounts small rather than slash the price.
To read the full article click here.
M&A
Riverwood Holding is to buy control
of Graphic Packaging for $1.6bn in shares to create an integrated paper
carton and packaging machinery group. Riverwood will own 57.5 percent of
the new public company, while Graphic Packaging will own 42.5 percent.
Graphic Packaging is strong in
cartons for consumer products, and Riverwood is a leader in multi-pack
beverage packaging.
Nominal sales last year of the
combined company were $2.3 billion and EBITDA was more than $400 million.
The companies reckon to save $55 million a year after three years from
synergies.
Carlsberg
raises shareholding in Okocim
Danish brewer Carlsberg bought the
3.5 percent share in Carlsberg Okocim owned by Germany’s Bitburger for
3.8m euros (DKK28m), raising its stake in the Polish firm to 75 percent.
Deals
Management
Ventures taps IRI for consumer data
Management Ventures (MVI), the
retail research and training subsidiary of WPP, is to buy its consumer
information exclusively from Information Resources (IRI), which collects
universal product code data direct from point of sale in retail stores.
MVI will use the data as input to
its training courses and its
Web-enabled Retailer Resource
Centers and other retail account planning tools. |
