Minnesota Micromotors: Strategies for Pricing and Price Elasticity

This report provides an analysis of the pricing strategies employed by Minnesota Micromotors, focusing on the concept of price elasticity of demand. The report explores various pricing strategies such as penetration pricing, market skimming, premium pricing, and bundle pricing, highlighting their applications and implications. It examines how price elasticity varies across different market segments within Minnesota Micromotors, particularly in relation to bulk orders and the level of customization required. The report also discusses the effects of price discounts on sales, customer satisfaction, and the competitive landscape. It concludes that the level of specialization and customization significantly influences price sensitivity, and that discounts play a crucial role in boosting sales where price elasticity is high. The analysis includes references to key concepts and relevant academic sources.

Running Head: Minnesota Micromotors
Minnesota Micromotors
Pricing Strategies and Price Elasticity

Minnesota Micromotors 1
Pricing Strategy Concept:
Pricing is a crucial factor influencing the sales of the commodity. Demand of the product is
inversely related to the price. Hence, it becomes vital to understand and consider the pricing
strategies while deciding the price. It takes into consideration the ability to pay, cost of
inputs, market structure, level and strategies of competitors. There are various kinds of
strategies to determine the price like penetration pricing, market skimming, premium pricing
and bundle pricing.
Commonly applied Pricing Strategies in brief:
Penetration Pricing: The main focus of this strategy is to capture a large market segment by
keeping the prices low, since the law of demand follows.
Market Skimming: The producer in this strategy benefits from the first mover advantage and
chooses to keep high prices in the beginning to maximise its profits. Once the level of
competition increases, the producers lower the product prices according to the competitors.
Premium Pricing: This is used when the producer provides a unique product or of high
quality. It becomes important that people realise that the product is worth the high price.
Bundle Pricing: In the today’s world of internet shopping this is a very commonly used
strategy of selling a bundle of products for low price then what is charged for the individual
products. This helps not only clear up the inventories but also gives the buyers, a sense of
greater value for what they are paying (Chron, 2018).
Price Elasticity of Demand:
Price elasticity of demand is the receptiveness of demand to alterations in the commodity
price, only. It ranges from zero to infinity. The higher the elasticity, the greater is the
sensitivity of the demand (Economics Online, 2018).
Application of Price Elasticity in Minnesota Micromotors:
The Motor Market’s revenues, approximately 70%, are from the bulk orders. The bulk orders
give the customer the benefit of discounts. The market is broadly divided into four segments.
Segment A requires customisation for power-to-size ratio of motor; therefore the price
sensitivity cannot be very high. This customisation also imposes a need for quite a high
amount of sales support. The Segment B is also requires specialisation in the context of

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thermal resistance of motor leading to requirement for sales representatives with high
technical know-how. Thus, this market is also not quite sensitive towards the price. The
segment C was the least price sensitive in bulk sale category. This required even more
specialised products both in terms of power-to-size ratio as well as thermal resistance of the
motor. The stringent technical standards also make the market price insensitive and customer
service plays an important role. Therefore, its demand is not affected much by the change in
the price of the commodity. Whereas in case of Segment D, the market is highly price
sensitive. There are orders in bulk requiring very low or economical rates. The people who
purchase from the distributers also show high price sensitivity with low level of
customisation. The sales boost in case the price is lowered even by a small amount and
contrariwise.
Price Discount and its effect on Customer Satisfaction and Competition:
The price discounts, in case of high price elasticity of demand, leads to higher sales. The
discounts give people a higher value of their money and thus saved amount can be invested
elsewhere. It attracts people to buy more, given high price elasticity. The customer
satisfaction also increases in this case. The sections with low price elasticity are not affected
much by the discounts since they require high level of customisation, which require higher
price of the product (Marinescu et al., 2011).
The discounts increase the market share and people switch to the close substitutes, given high
price elasticity. The competitors face this as a challenge to their market capture. The low
level of customisation leads to price war among competitors.
Conclusion:
It can be concluded that higher the specialisation and customisation required in the Minnesota
Micromotors firm, higher is the need for customer support service and lower is the price
sensitivity. Discounts play a major role in increasing the sales where ever the price elasticity
is high.

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Bibliography
Chron, 2018. Different Types of Pricing Strategy. [Online] Available at:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/different-types-pricing-strategy-4688.html [Accessed 27
February 2018].
Economics Online, 2018. Price Elasticity of Demand. [Online] Available at:
http://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Competitive_markets/Price_elasticity_of_demand.html
[Accessed 28 February 2018].
Marinescu, P., Mihai, N.S. & Toma, S., 2011. Pricing Strategy used as a tool for Building
Customer Satisfaction in the Retail Store. [Online] Available at:
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/6263401.pdf [Accessed 28 February 2018].
Simulations, O., 2014. The Orthopedic Motor Market: Minnesota Micromotors, Inc. and
Brushless Motor Technology. [Online] Available at:
file:///C:/Users/#4079/AppData/Local/Temp/Temp2_myZip_687174.zip/2019440_69929873
_ONLINESIMULATION.MINNESOTAM.pdf [Accessed 28 February 2018].