Introduction
In the context of the present-day developments, recent IT decisions have become an integral part of each business management. It should be mentioned that in the modern world, it is impossible to manage the operation of an enterprise without appropriate applications and other supporting equipment and innovations. Therefore, EZ Schedule responds to the necessitates of modern business. It presents an affordable and scheduling application with an interface, which is easy to be understood (E-T Schedule, n. d.). EZ Schedule may be successfully applied to small professional practice and appears to be a sufficient solution for service-related businesses, which stick to a repetitive base of clients (E-T Schedule, n. d.). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to review the application in the context of its pricing strategy and placement.
Succinct brand as well as target market descriptions
Target market for EZ-Schedule app is working professionals with families that lives in United States and within business district. Whereas positioning statement is as follows: EZ-Schedule is a planning mobile application that is the best solution for today’s busy business world. EZ- Schedule app provides professionals opportunities to organize their day better and maintain healthy balance between professional and personal life.
Price
Pricing is a process in which a value is given to a product or service. Pricing determines the cost that is required to be paid by the customer. It can also be related to the business’s cost to produce the product or services (The Balance, 2020).
Competitive analysis
New product pricing strategies
Pricing strategies change with the product’s life cycle. Setting the price for a new product is always challenging. For the EZ-Schedule app, the market penetration pricing strategy is best suited because the app’s target market is professional, family-oriented individuals who believe in value for money. Market penetration pricing strategy refers to setting the price low initially to penetrate the market (Armstrong, 2014). For the EZ-Schedule app, it will be important to penetrate the market and attract a large number of customers and capture a larger market share.
Major pricing strategy after six months of launch
The price that the company will be charging from its customers depends on various internal and external factors. The price for the product should be between profit-generating amount and demand acceleration amount. The three major pricing strategies are customer value-based pricing, cost-based pricing, and competition-based pricing. For EZ-Schedule app competition-based pricing strategy will be appropriate after six months of launching. Competition-based pricing strategy refers to setting the price based on the competitor’s strategy, cost, price, and market offerings (Armstrong, 2014). The major competitors of the EZ-Schedule app are Calendly, Bookafy, SimplyBook, Appointlet, etc. It will be essential to analyze competitors’ pricing strategies before setting the EZ-Schedule app’s price.
Price Elasticity of Demand
Price elasticity of demand refers to the measurement of change in demand due to a change in price. The price elasticity of demand is elastic if a change in the price of goods causes a substantial change in the demand for the goods. In contrast, demand is inelastic if the change in price doesn’t significantly affect demand (James, 2021). The price elasticity of demand for the EZ-Schedule app is elastic as the increase in price will affect the number of customers significantly. There are several competitors of the EZ-Schedule app, which will make it difficult to increase the price to a greater extent as the customers will tend to shift to other cheap scheduling apps. Also, the target market for this app is working middle-class professionals who believe in value for money.
Retail price at the time of launch
At the time of launch, the EZ-Schedule app is applying the market penetration pricing strategy, Which means the price is set at the lower end of the industry to attract more customers and gain market share. The average price prevailing for an appointment scheduling app is from $7.99- $10.99 for the basic plan. So, the initial price at the time of Launch needs will be $7.99; this price will be appropriate for the EZ-Schedule app to gain market share and allow the company to increase sales volume and lower the cost.
Retail price after six months of launch
EZ-Schedule app will be applying a competitor-based pricing strategy after six months of launch which means it will be required to analyze its competitor’s pricing strategy and determine its price. Any change in competitors’ pricing will also affect the EZ-Schedule app’s pricing strategy, and it will have to reconsider its price. Considering the Concept of 9, EZ-Schedule will reset its price to $8.99 after six months of launching. The Concept of 9 or the Power of 9 is referred to as a tactic to lure customers into buying. Number 9 at the end of any price plays with the psychology of customer that they are getting a good deal. In contrast, for companies, each penny collected from the total sales accumulates to build billions of dollars. $8.99 will be appropriate considering the prices the competitors are charging, as it will neither be too low or too high for this kind of appointment scheduling app.
Placement
Distribution strategy
The method of distributing the EZ Schedule app or distribution strategy would be intensive distribution. This marketing distribution strategy is intended for companies to mass market their products. EZ Schedule would want to ensure its mobile application would have widespread availability by using the intensive distribution system to reach its target market.
Target Market and Placement
As it has been mentioned above, EZ Schedule presents a solution for performing small professional practices. In addition, it can be applied to service-related businesses with a repetitive base of clients. Consequently, the target audience of the application may include lawyers, doctors, accountants, trainers, and other specialists, who fit the criteria covered earlier (How to define your primary target market like a pro, n. d.; E-T Schedule Appointment Manager, n. d.). Furthermore, it is evident that EZ Schedule should predominantly adhere to business-to-business sales, as the directors of small enterprises are highly likely to use this application.
Retailers
Retailers which are defined as person shop or business that sells goods or services to the public will be crucial to the success of the app (Johnston, 2020). EZ Schedule’s retailer would consist mostly of online stores where the application would have unlimited virtual shelf space. These stores would include Google Play and Apple which are two of the biggest online marketplaces. Getting to the online store’s top app list is the challenge in today’s app market. Unlike brick and mortar, your shelf with your product is rarely viewed unless it tops this chart. EZ Schedule would also be packaged and promoted in stores such as Best Buy, Office Mart, and Office Depot which are tech-savvy stores that our target market would frequently shop. Both online and brick-and-mortar tech-savvy stores attract business professionals.
Choice of channel and intermediary
Today there are 2.56 million apps available on Google Play Store, and in 2019 there were 204 billion total apps downloaded in the world (Business of Apps 2020). This information tells the story of where EZ Schedule will attract the majority of its target market. The mobile app market is dominated by two major app stores Google Play and The Apple App Store.
The EZ Schedule app would go through a conventional marketing channel. Most of our sales would be online and the EZ Schedule product would be sold by a wholesaler which is defined as a person or company that sells goods in large quantities at low prices to retailers. An agent or contracted sales representative would have less influence with purchasing departments and would not have the wide range that an app wholesaler would provide.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be stated that EZ Schedule is helpful for fulfilling all the needs in the context of pricing and placement. It leads to the automatization of these processes and improves control over them. Thus, EZ Schedule appears to be useful equipment, which benefits the operation of a business and may prompt effective solutions in a range of tasks and problems. In addition, its significance in saving time should not be underestimated. For these reasons, this application responds to all the needs of small and service-related businesses in the modern world.
References
App Download and Usage Statistics (2020). Business of Apps. Web.
Armstrong, G., & Kotler, P. (2018). Marketing an Introduction (14th ed.). Pearson Education.
E-T Schedule (n. d.). Capterra. Web.
E-T Schedule Appointment Manager (n. d.). E-T Schedule. Web.
How to define your primary target market like a pro. (n. d.). Sparklight. Web.
The Balance. (2020). What is pricing?. Web.
James, M. (2021). Price Elasticity of Demand. Investopedia. Web.
Johnston, M. (2020). 10 Biggest Retail Companies. Investopedia. Web.
Top 10 Differences between Wholesalers and Retailers. Accountlearning. Web.