Raise Prices to Cover Increased Costs
August 16th, 2006 at 08:37am Lorie Obernauer
Watch out for rising gas prices! According to an article in the Gourmet Retailer Newsletter, retailers will be facing higher gas and energy bills over the next months due to the shutdown of a major Alaskan oil field. Full Story
As you start to make plans for the upcoming holiday season, consider adjusting your prices now in order to compensate for higher energy expenses you will incur.
Take a look at your basket offerings and think about increasing prices by 2% or 3%. If you already have a delivery charge, add $.50 onto each delivery or add a small handling charge to each shipment that you send by UPS or other delivery services. If you don’t already charge for delivery, start now!
Don’t wait until November to raise your prices or suddenly add hefty delivery or handling charges to your orders. Your customers will not be happy to see those increases when they’re making their holiday purchases! When your customers are budgeting and buying for the holidays, unexpected price changes and charges can create a lot of ill will. If your customer is shopping at the last minute, you may still get that order, but may lose future business.
Everyone is well aware of the energy crisis that we are facing. Be up front with your customers: let them know about these price increases and assure them that you’ll keep those charges to a minimum. By acting now, and keeping your customers informed, you can protect your own interests and as well as those of your customers.
Entry Filed under: Business Tips
2 Comments Add your own
1. Shirley George Frazier | August 17th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
You make an exceptional point about price adjustments and the timing of those increases as we move closer to the holidays.
Everyone has to make these changes. The big companies, in all industries, have done so. Why shouldn’t we?
2. Lorie Obernauer | August 18th, 2006 at 9:52 am
Thank you Shirley. I think it’s especially important for small business owners to stay on top of increases in our fixed expenses. Not only might we need to adjust our pricing, but also continue to “shop” for the best utility rates, insurance, etc. in an effort to control those costs.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed