Pricing Trends for Small Businesses in 2024

In this episode of Live with The Pricing Lady, we take a look at pricing

trends for small businesses in 2024.

A lot has happened in the past few years and change is happening so quickly.

So it makes sense to stop and take a look at what's going on.

So you know what to focus on in the year to come.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the episode.

Hello, and welcome to Live with The Pricing Lady, the podcast.

I am Janene, your hostess.

First, let me welcome you to the show and wish you a very happy new year.

I hope you were able to spend the holidays resting and relaxing, spending a bit

of time with friends and family, waving goodbye to 2023 and saying hello to 2024.

May this year be filled with lots of love, laughter, happiness, and

of course, great business success.

In today's episode, we're going to be talking about pricing trends for 2024.

We'll take a look at the state of affairs and what's been happening

and globally in the marketplace.

Then we'll take a look at what the pricing trends are that I see coming this year

and where I think you can benefit the most by focusing your attention for this year.

Before we get into that, I want to share with you a few things that

are happening in my business of what you can expect from me in 2024

because I am making some changes.

So first of all, each month this year, we're going to focus on

a different topic related to pricing and business or mindset.

And this month, January, our focus topic, now this should be no surprise

to any of you who follow me, but our focus topic is the customer.

And why is it the customer?

Because pricing is rooted in a deep understanding of customer.

That's right.

If you follow me, you know that I say that all the time.

It is absolutely true.

And so that is where we're going to begin our journey in 2024.

The next thing that I want to share with you is that we are replacing

the web classes that I used to do with the Price Point Events Series.

So this is a live event that we'll have a few times a year, and

we're going to be taking a look at those focus topics as well.

And you can join these price point events where we'll have live Q and

A, maybe a little bit of coaching.

And of course you will get some content and some tips and tactics that you can use

on those topics that we'll be covering.

The first one is this month.

And so you will get a link in the show notes for that.

Keep an eye out for it.

Next, I will be conducting a few pop up masterclasses this year.

These are going to take, we're going to take some of the lead magnets that

I have, some of the guides and tools and downloadables that I have, and

we're going to dig into using them together in these pop up masterclasses.

So the first one is actually going to be in February and

it is on the pricing toolkit.

This is something I can only highly recommend you to join me for, especially

if you're not big on the numbers or you don't understand profit, you're going

to wanna join me for that, so be sure to look for that in the show notes as well.

The last thing I wanna let you know about is that I will be

bringing you new or more.

Yes, new and more cohort based courses.

Now, if you follow me, then you know that the FairPrice formula, which

is my price setting course, I moved it last year to the Maven platform

and now run it as a cohort based course has been absolutely amazing.

And so I've decided to move some other very prominent and very,

let's say important Courses over there.

One of them is called the Customer Compass, and this is

all about doing customer insight interviews that will be running in.

So actually we have this.

The end of January, we had the Fair Price Formula part one,

which is the price setting.

And then we have the Customer Compass coming up in February.

The dates will be in the show notes.

And then I'm also going to be bringing parts two and three of the fair price

formula, which is price communication and managing prices out later this year.

So be sure to keep an eye out for all of that.

So that's what I wanted to share with you on what to expect from me in 2024.

Now let's get into the good stuff so that you can understand some of the trends

and things that are happening across the globe and what it means for your business.

So I want to start this by talking about the state of affairs.

Now, I've used a couple of reports to pull some figures and numbers in here.

You'll find links to those in the show notes as well.

Now, generally, if we're looking across the globe, what we see is the following.

We see people are spending more money, but they are buying less.

Now, why is this the case?

So by less, I mean they're purchasing fewer things, right?

So by paying more, spending more money, but buying fewer things.

And this is a really important trend because it means that for most

industries, the market share, the size of the market is actually shrinking.

So fewer people are making purchases.

Yeah, because they're buying less.

So they're being more, let's say discerning with what they purchase.

Now because of inflation, mostly, is why they are actually spending

more on what they do purchase.

Now what we've seen in the past couple of years is what

we call compounded inflation.

Because inflation itself has been quite high in many countries across the globe.

What we see is that from 2021 to 2020, well, now we're in 2024, at least

through the end of 2023, we see that inflation has compounded and typically

in many countries across the globe, people are paying 15 to 18% more for

the goods and services that they were buying in 2021 than they are now.

And that is really important.

That's where that spending more typically comes from, because

things have gotten, not everything and not everywhere, but things in

general have gotten more expensive.

And although inflation is higher, well, let's say, let me put it this way.

Although, you know, the, let's say predictions.

Maybe not the right word.

But the expectations for inflation is that it won't be increasing as much.

It still will probably, in many countries, be increasing 2-3%, and that is going

to compound on top of the 15-18%.

So it will still feel, even though it's not as big an increase compared

to what we were paying before, it will still feel quite significant.

Yeah.

And that is going to shift people's behavior even further.

Yeah.

Wages in comparison to inflation across the globe, and this is generally

speaking as well, most of them have not kept pace with inflation.

They have actually fallen comparatively.

So that means that people have about, or a little bit less money to Spend for

things that are much more expensive, which is why we see this trend of

people purchasing fewer things, right?

So that's to give you a background understanding.

Now why is this so important to the topic of pricing?

Well, as I said at the beginning, the market size has shrunk.

And a lot of times what people do when they're selling less is they

panic and they say, let's discount our prices so we can sell more.

And in this case, it's really hard to sell enough additional volume.

Because you've got a couple things.

You've got a very competitive environment and a shrinking environment, right?

So everybody's trying to hold on to their market share on the one hand and

on the other hand, they're trying to make sure that their profits are high

enough and it just, you know, it has this really, I'm sorry, they're trying

to make sure that they're not losing market share in a shrinking market that's

more competitive and that just leads to a lot of, let's say, unhealthy pricing

behavior and you want to be careful, that you don't get into that trap as well.

So, basically, overall, we see less being purchased and a lot of people

are paying more for those purchases.

So what does this really mean?

It means that people will probably continue to buy fewer things.

Yeah, they're going to be more discerning with what they spend their money on.

And what's really interesting, and so one of the reports I'll link to is called

the NIQ 2023 mid year Outlook Survey.

And one of the things that they did in this report is they kind of, they gave

us an idea of what people are spending about the same on, more of their

money on, or less of their money on.

So when they're trying to decide, you know, where to spend what money they have,

these are the things that we're seeing.

So in general, people are spending about the same amount of money as they did

before on things like, or maybe it's not the same amount of money, but the

same amount of their income, right?

They're spending about the same on things like health care visits on financial

services on in home entertainment.

So I'm guessing by in home entertainment that they mean things like, you know,

live streaming and online gaming, things like that and transportation.

That's a good thing to think about.

There's people are spending a similar amount of their

income on things like that.

Now, people are spending less of their income on things like, let's

see, eating out, takeaways, out of house entertainment, so like going

to the movies or going to a football game or something like that clothing,

and home improvements and decor.

Yeah, so those things people generally are spending less of their,

let's say, disposable income on.

And then the things that people tend to be spending more of their income on these

days are fresh foods, health and wellness, utilities, savings and Investments

are costing more, funnily enough.

And Education.

Now why, why might I be sharing this with you?

I find this really interesting because depending on what industry

you're in that could be really important information for you to know.

If you're in, let's say, Gastronomy industry, you know, eating out and

takeaway, you know, people are not doing that as much as they were before.

That means you may need to think about some other paths for your

business, some other pricing strategies to entice people to come back.

There's lots of different ways that you can do that, but knowing

that in your industry, this is sort of the trend that's happening.

That can be really helpful because it can help you understand

what to be doing differently.

Now,

Another thing that the state of affairs, of affairs means is that some competitors

are going to panic and drop their prices.

And this has a couple of impacts.

One, it's going to be painful or at least appear to be painful for you.

Yeah, because we have this assumption that the lowest price always wins.

It does not.

But that is the assumption, the thinking that most people have.

So your first response might be like, Oh my God, I have to drop my prices.

I would sit on that overnight, think about it and make a decision

a day or two later about it.

Because what it can lead to is it can lead to price wars.

And price wars are actually not good for anybody.

Not for you, not for your competitors and not for the customer.

And you might find that odd for me to say, the reality is when the customer

has fewer choices to choose or fewer options to choose from, then it's

actually not beneficial to them.

That's one thing.

And the second thing is if they bought from you in the past but they switched

to someone else and then you lower your prices and they lower their prices and

you get into a price war, one or the both of you will end up going out of business.

And then if the customer needs support from what, for what they bought from

you, that option is no longer there.

So you can see how it's obviously not great for you or your competition because

of profits and, and margins, but then it's also not good for the customer.

I think that people will be seeking more personalized experiences.

Whether it be through a product or a software or service, I think they're going

to want to, They're going to connect with and want to spend their money on things

that feel more personalized towards them.

And I think that that's a trend that we're definitely going to see.

And of course, that will impact your pricing.

You'll also see Increased brand loyalty, but I have to caveat

this to say as long as they feel is still good value for money.

Yeah.

So if people really love what you have to offer and they feel it's still

good value for money, then they will continue to be loyal to you and your

brand because you've built that trust.

And as long as you maintain that trust, they will hold on for that.

They will hold on to that, and that's really important.

So those are just some of the things that I think that we will see come out of

the state of affairs that we're having.

So now let's talk about some of those pricing trends, because these are

really important to think about in the context of what is going to be

happening in your market, but also what you want to be doing in your business.

So the first thing, and I think many of you probably see this

coming, but the use of AI.

There's no doubt that that is also coming into pricing.

It already has in many ways.

And when we get into large multinationals or mid sized businesses where they're

using a lot of data and analysis of numbers and figures, you know,

on you know, thousands of SKUs were Thousands of part members.

If you don't know what an SKU is, then of course that's already,

you know started but for smaller businesses I see this trend of using

AI as well and I see it in two areas.

In one area is of course in doing your market research and understanding

The Marketplace and The Competition.

You probably have, you know, once or twice, I'm guessing you'd gone into

something like ChatGDP and, and typed in there to see what would come out.

Right?

Now you have to be careful.

Well, let me, before I get into the, that, let me, let me say the other thing.

So market research is one aspect where we use AI in pricing.

Now, the other area where AI will come into pricing is when consumers are looking

at what's available to them, right?

So they may also be using AI to research pricing on different products

and services and things like that.

So what's really important to understand that a lot of the AI tools that are

available right now are not going to be giving you data that is up to date.

So, for example, I even went in today and I typed something into ChatGPT

to see what would come back to me.

And I, I use the free version currently.

And I said, you know, I typed something in there.

If you're looking at pricing trends and they came back to me and said, actually,

all the information we can give you is only going to be updated up through 2022.

And so they didn't give me any information back except for to say,

yeah, we can't really give you any up to date pricing information.

And that's really important for you to know when you're using it

and for you to understand that when your customer is using it, they may

be looking at older data, right?

So it's important for you to consider that when you're thinking

about AI in your business.

So does that mean it's bad information?

No, it just means that it's not up to date information.

So you have to figure out how can I take, if I use AI generated information,

how can I take that and make sure it's up to date when I do use it?

Because you don't want to base your pricing on outdated information

if you can avoid doing so.

As a result of using AI, especially of consumers using AI, and

even your competition, right?

We will see more price transparency.

Now, in some ways you can't imagine probably prices being more

transparent because it feels like they are pretty transparent already.

But it will come even more so to the forefront and that will

have an impact on your business.

What does that mean you should do?

Well, I think for the most part you just need to be aware of who

else is in the market both directed and indirect competitors and how

they could be influencing what your customers or clients are seeing.

I think we will see a Focus on differentiation.

And this is good news.

Now, if you follow me, you know that I I'm a big proponent, especially for

small businesses of differentiation.

If you can make yourself the expert or make your product, the perfect

product for X, Y, and Z, You know, for this test target customer group, then

you put yourself in a better position to be able to capture more value.

Focus on differentiation and that can be done in many different ways.

You can differentiate based on the customer experience, based on

being a purpose driven business, based on the values of your

business, based on sustainability.

There are lots of ways to differentiate.

You can even differentiate by being a low price leader.

I don't generally recommend that, especially for small businesses.

And that's another episode.

But there are lots of ways to differentiate.

So the question for me and, or for you is, what are you going to

differentiate yourself based upon?

And especially when we come to small, young businesses, the instinct

is to do what I say is to cast a wide net and create a product or a

service that anyone can benefit from.

What most people find three to five years down the road in their business is that's

a really hard business model to work with.

When you cast a wide net, you put yourself out there as a generalist,

and then it's really hard to connect on a strong level with anyone.

So most small businesses, you're going to be in a much better position.

If you can Focus on a niche and meeting the needs of that target customer group.

It doesn't mean you won't sell to others.

It just means that you can optimize a lot of what you do

in your business for that one.

And once you get some momentum there, then you can figure out

how to serve and communicate with those other target groups.

So focus on differentiation.

This is along the same lines, kind of a follow up maybe, but

I wrote it on here so I'm gonna, I'm gonna put it out there anyhow.

Niche to capture value.

So one of the fancy ways that we talk about price getting

better prices is a value capture.

So that's a fancy way of saying I'm gonna get better prices.

And, of course, if you can niche down and be exactly what this target customer

group needs, and they feel that in your communication, they believe in

that value that you're bringing them specifically, then you can generally

command better prices than the other guy.

And even if it's just that you communicate the value better.

Then you're going to already be in a better competitive position.

I think that in 2024, we're going to see people being much more

intentional with price adjustments.

And we may even see some businesses and many businesses

make price adjustments mid year.

With the way that, you know, price has increased over the past couple

of years and the way that businesses have adjusted, you know, some of

them have, you know, left the prices the same, but changed the packaging.

Or they've, you know, restructured how their programs and offers look.

It kind of exhausted some of that, and so it may be that they've feel

it's appropriate and it, you know, not just at the end of the year but

midyear to make some press adjustments.

And I think people are gonna be much more intentional.

Intentional about what they do.

Why do I think that?

I think because people are starting to understand because there's such a

pinch on finances, people are starting to understand better that what they

do with their pricing, has a huge influence on their profitability.

And that seems like such an obvious thing.

If you're a well let's say if you understand profit in your

business and if you understand pricing, this is going to seem.

It's so obvious, but I know a lot of people out there don't.

And what I see is people are coming to me and saying, Janene, I need

help to understand this better.

And through that process of understanding the financial part

of their business better, they're making more intentional decisions

about what to do with their pricing.

And that is a trend that is definitely coming in this year.

The last thing I wanted to put in here as a price change is that people are going

to be more strategic with discounts.

Now, you know that unnecessary discounts, especially if you follow

me, you already know this, are a nasty little habit that you have.

And whether it's hard times or good times, I think you should always be

very strategic with the discounts that you choose to give or not.

Why are people going to be more strategic?

Well, first of all, remember at the very beginning, I said

that the market is shrinking.

So there are fewer buyers out there.

And that means that your prices are probably, you know, if you offer

discounts, you're probably not going to get as much volume as you think you will

as a result of lowering those prices.

So simply because the market is already shifting.

You will see.

less impact when you do offer discounts.

Let's put it that way.

Second of all, I think companies are aware or maybe even more aware

that they can, based on their own discounting habits, create discount

dependency with their customers.

What do I mean by this?

So if you give discounts twice a year, once in June and once December every

year, then, and do that repeatedly, then people will come to expect that

from you and they will change their buying habits to adjust for that.

Maybe not for everything and maybe not for everyone, but you kind of train

customers, okay, I should wait until June because then this will be on sale.

So you create a dependency on the discounts.

And so I think people are going to be a bit more strategic with their discounts so

they can avoid creating that dependency.

And the last reason I think they're going to be more strategic

about their discounting is the negative impact it has on value.

So a lot of what I've talked about in the previous pricing trends with

capturing more value by niching, focusing on differentiation, being

more intentional, those are all, with your price adjustments, those are all

value, let's say buffering tactics and discounts can have a real negative

impact on people's perception of value.

If you always said this is the price and this is what it's worth and then

you're suddenly granting, you know, big discounts, then of course that's

going to call quite into people's mind the question is the value really there?

And so you can destroy the value perception of your offer with poorly

implemented discounting strategies.

So that's another reason I think people are just going to be more

strategic about what they choose to do when it comes to discounting.

So with all of that said, it all begs the question, Dear

Janene, what should I do in 2024?

Well, I think on a very general level, because of course, without knowing

anything about all about your business specifically, it's hard for me to say,

but you can never, ever, in my opinion, go wrong by refocusing on value.

Refocusing on value, making sure that you understand the value

and you can communicate it well.

So what does that mean?

Number one, you want to go back and talk to customers, do some more customer

interviews, or if you have a large community, you can do some surveys, but

find out what has changed and shifted for them in the past few years so

that you know what they really value.

And you can bring that into the context of what you choose to do with your pricing.

Second of all, figure out how you can adjust your value to match that.

Right?

So maybe you need to restructure your offer, refocus on value.

You're going to go out there and talk to your customers.

Then you're going to figure out how to adjust the value.

Now that can be adjust the packaging, adjust what you offer, when

you offer it, how you offer it.

It can also be just adjusting the communication.

So sometimes you don't need to change your offer.

You just need to focus on a different message that aligns with what's

important to the customer now.

Of course, as long as that's what you're delivering along the way.

And I would say focus on boosting your own value communication skills.

So being able to talk value without feeling like you're, you know,

defending, defending, defending all the time, being able to help customers

think through the value without it feeling like you're interrogating them.

How to talk about value, how to bring up the topic of value, how to

have those conversations, one to one with customers, but then also how to

communicate value on your website.

If you know, that's where they're making the purchase.

Talk to customers, adjust the value and hone those communication skills.

That's it for this episode of Live with The Pricing Lady, the podcast.

It's been my pleasure to have you here with me, and you will find lots of links

in this episode in the show notes below.

One thing I'd like to let you know.

Is it, I have two courses coming up.

I have the Fair Price Formula at the end of January and the

Customer Custom Compass, sorry, coming up at the end of February.

So be sure to check the show notes for that.

I would love to have you join me for those courses.

Have a great day and as always, enjoy pricing everyone.