Due to shortages in raw materials and bottlenecks in the production of inputs demanded by the sector, businessmen in El Salvador expect that in the coming weeks the prices of plastic products will reflect increases.
"The cost determines my selling price" and "let's lower prices to win customers and then start raising them" are some of the phrases that should be avoided when designing a pricing strategy.
Ariel Banos, founder of Fijaciondeprecios.com, has identified five phrases that are dangerous and that companies should avoid applying when designing their price management strategy.
For the period from February to April 2021, Deocsa and Deorsa users will be subject to a 1.5% increase in the price of electricity, and for Eegsa customers the increase will be 0.4%.
According to the National Electric Energy Commission, in general terms, it is possible to indicate that for the following quarter the tariffs will show slight variations derived from the regular behavior of macroeconomic variables that have a direct incidence on the costs transferred to tariffs.
Given the announcements made by butchers about the possible increase in the price of beef, the Diaco announces that it has begun operations to prevent speculation.
The Direccion de Atención y Asistencia al Consumidor (Diaco), an agency of the Ministry of Economy, informed that it has begun operations to verify red meat prices nationwide, warning that it will not tolerate any abuse and price speculation.
Taking advantage of shortages to sell at high prices and visualizing the benefits to companies of strategies that demonstrate social empathy in difficult times are some of the lessons learned during 2020, which was highlighted by the health and economic crisis.
The spread of covid-19 suddenly transformed the global business landscape. Ariel Banos, founder of Fijaciondeprecios.com, has identified five lessons that companies learned in terms of price management, in this context of changing commercial reality.
Since 2018, the price of the banana box that Costa Rican producers sell to the German supermarket chain ALDI is falling, there is concern that other European chains will begin to negotiate lower prices.
Representatives of the National Banana Corporation of Costa Rica (Corbana) explained that in 2018 the 18.14 kilo banana box sold to ALDI was quoted at 13.55 Euros. However, in 2019 and 2020 the amount paid for the fruit was reduced, and by 2021 a price of 11.33 euros has been set, which is equivalent to a -16% variation with respect to what was charged in 2018.
Selecting products with limited sales potential because of price, defining the group of clients that will be reached by the promotion and quantifying the profits that the company will receive after offering discounts are factors that must be evaluated when applying strategies of this type.
In order to avoid carrying out promotions in an intuitive way, without an integral evaluation of the action, both in terms of costs and benefits, Ariel Banos, founder of Fijaciondeprecios.com, proposes seven steps to correctly define a Profitable Promotion.
Due to the economic crisis generated by the covid-19 outbreak, it is estimated that between 10% and 12% of students in private institutions in Costa Rica have stopped demanding the services, and tuition fees have gone down.
When the first cases were detected in the country in March, the authorities began to decree restrictions on mobility and productive activities, a situation that generated a severe economic crisis.
In September, price increases were more pronounced for vegetable oils and cereals, and for dairy products prices remained stable, while sugar and meat prices fell from their August levels.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that in September 2020 the food price index averaged 97.9 points, i.e., 2% more than in August and already 4.6% above its value a year ago.
Arguing that the health of the nation's inhabitants is a public good and that institutions are required to ensure its conservation and restoration, the government will regulate the prices of several medicines.
"If we overcome the mental barrier of commoditization, identifying and communicating those added values going beyond our basic proposal, we will have the opportunity to take our profitability to another level."
Ariel Banos, founder of Fijaciondeprecios.com explains that when a proposal is a commodity, in other words, it lacks differentiation with respect to others offered in the market, the only alternative is to align itself with the prices charged by competitors. There are no magic solutions.
In Costa Rica, the price indexes of buildings and social housing registered in the seventh month of the year, year-on-year variations of -1.07% and -0.81%, respectively.
From the report of the National Institute of Statistics and Census:
Entrepreneurs in the real estate sector estimate that in the Panamanian market the prices of homes in inventory could fall between 5% and 10%, due to the economic crisis resulting from the outbreak of covid-19.
Although the construction industry is currently paralyzed because of the health emergency and the supply of new housing is not increasing, entrepreneurs anticipate a fall in the prices of residential property.
Due to weak competition in the local market, the prices of goods and services in the basic basket are significantly higher in Costa Rica than in nearby countries.
A report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), called the "Economic Study on Costa Rica", concludes that consumers in the country pay higher prices for milk, rice, vehicles and Internet services.
In order to ensure that a possible de-regulation would not generate an unjustified increase in the products considered to be of greater sensitivity, the government decided to extend the price control system of the basic basket for six more months.
At present, the list of products whose prices are controlled includes beef slices, ribbon steaks, ground beef, whole chicken, rice, onions, yams, national potatoes, perita tomatoes, cassava, powdered milk, sliced bread, processed American yellow cheese and sausages.