WHISKAS - Pricing Strategy

According to our questionnaire, about giving suggestions to pet food companies , many pet owners' answers are related to the price of pet food. So we think it is necessary to study the pricing strategy of pet brands.

Many pet owners already have a price point before choosing pet food. According to our survey, as to which price range pet owners prefer, 39% of them chose 150-200RMB per 2kg, 37% Choose less than 150RMB, 16% are willing to spend 200-250RMB to buy food, only 8% can accept 300RMB or higher.

Whiskas is the most common and well-known brand by cat owners.When the coronavirus outbreak which had a significant effect on the development of the online sales channel. It seems to have accelerated pet owners' acceptance of e-commerce. We will use the two most commonly used e-commerce platforms in China, JD.com, Taobao.com analyzed, what pricing strategy did Whiskas use?

(JD.com)

The screenshots are of different prices of Whiskas cat food. We found that the price of each product ends in 8.9 and 9.9.

Whiskas is using psychology pricing strategy, it adjusts its price for psychological effect, and the prices are 218.9 /199.9/149.9/89.9 instead of 220/200/150/90. It is a charming price. This psychological phenomena is driven by the fact that we read from left to right, so when we encounter a new price at $1.99, we see the 1 first and perceive the price to be closer to $1.00 than it is to $2.00. In essence, ending your price in a 9 convinces customers that you’re offering a great deal.

Feel free to take advantage of this fact in your pricing. If your price is originally $100, try selling it for $99 and see if there is a difference in your sales.

(Taobao.com)

We choose two kinds of Whiskas food. There is a countdown in the picture. Buyers can enjoy the discount after purchasing cat food within the time. The price is much discounted based on the original price.

Whiskas is usingTime-sensitive pricing and promotional pricing strategy. They set time limited, counting down 40 mins for you to buy otherwise you will not have any discount. You should the time-period where the consumer can get discount. Pushing the consumer to CTA which is Call to action.

Promotional pricing artificially increases a product's value for a sales boost, often reduced by a percentage amount for a limited duration. The act of offering a lower price temporarily is to enhance the effectiveness of sales efforts to cost sensitive users.

Whiskas' pricing strategies are not only these. I would like to show you ‘How Whiskas' use these normal pricing strategies to become popular among pet owners’, but Its success must be due to the quality of cat food rather than these tactics.

By GUI Ming