Chapter takeaways
Price wars occur when one competitor significantly undercuts prevailing prices and others respond. They may occur in any market but are particularly likely in industries with pressures such as slowing growth, high fixed costs and low levels of differentiation.
Price assaults can make sense only in a small number of situations where significant latent demand exists and competitor responses are constrained.
In most situations price wars destroy value. Volume increases do not achieve expectations, competitors match prices and customers learn to buy on price.
Price wars normally begin through misinterpretation and over-reaction.
Recommended strategies are:
- Take actions to stop price wars before they start.
- Answer with non-price response. ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access