Pricing for e-commerce in emerging economies

Abstract

With the increasing use of the internet and the subsequent greater avenues for information search, consumers have shifted from being mere “price takers” to “price determiners”, either explicitly or implicitly. Consumers are constantly assessing the prices charged for products based on information available from different communication channels (e.g., advertising), social networks (e.g., friends, relatives and acquaintances), prior purchasing experience, point of purchase, online resources (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) and other sources. Emerging markets are economies that are experiencing rapid growth in their GDP, total household income and industrialization. According to IMF estimates, emerging economies are expected to grow two to three times faster than developed economies and this becomes all the more important because what this means is that corporate revenues have the potential to grow faster when economic growth is higher. Also, emerging markets have less efficient markets where due to information asymmetry, information is not as readily available and the potential for earning higher returns is greater than that of developed nations. The objective of this chapter is to dig deeper into and get a comprehensive understanding of the strategies involved in pricing of products and services in the context of an e-commerce environment in emerging economies. We shed light on the complexities of the changing environment followed by how consumer psychology and pricing strategies are closely interlinked. The chapter concludes by looking at some instruments through which pricing strategies may be implemented, pricing of services and a real life case study revolving around the principles of strategic pricing.