How to work out price to sell items at?

m33r4

If this thread is in the wrong place - kindly move it mods:)

I am working out how to price my food items for sale please. Can you savvies recommend how to work out a sale price say for a small bottle of olive oil for instance (this is just an example)?

Also, if my product was not commonly available, could I edge my bets by putting an even higher sale price please?

Many thanks.

lincroft1710

Retail mark up can often be up to 50%, e.g. buy in for £1 sell for £2. However if Joe next door is selling the same for £1.50, you may have to sell for same price or lower.

Is your olive oil any better than that sold by Asda/M&S/Sainsbury/Tesco/Waitrose. If not, unless your customer base has difficulty accessing such shops, you can't really price above them. If you've grown and nurtured the olives yourself in France/Italy, paid for the pressing/bottling/labelling/transport, you will have an unique product and have some idea of the cost per bottle, so you will be able to charge a little more than mainstream supermarket. But I personally won't be buying it as to me olive oil is olive oil however long it's retained its virginity.

Often you are limited by what the market will pay and what the competition charge. If you have a niche market you may be able to charge more.

But at the end of the day what are your overheads and how much do you need to make as personal income.

m33r4

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Retail mark up can often be up to 50%, e.g. buy in for £1 sell for £2. ....

Thanks for your input lincroft.

If marking up by 50% should something bought for £1 not be sold at £1-50?

50% of £1-00 = £0-50

So: £0-50 + £1-00 = £1-50?

m33r4

lincroft1710 wrote: »

...Is your olive oil any better than that sold by Asda/M&S/Sainsbury/Tesco/Waitrose. If not, unless your customer base has difficulty accessing such shops, you can't really price above them. If you've grown and nurtured the olives yourself in France/Italy, paid for the pressing/bottling/labelling/transport, you will have an unique product and have some idea of the cost per bottle, so you will be able to charge a little more than mainstream supermarket. But I personally won't be buying it as to me olive oil is olive oil however long it's retained its virginity....

I am not selling olive oil but used that as an example. If you read my original post, I put

...a small bottle of olive oil for instance (this is just an example)?

lincroft1710

m33r4 wrote: »

I am not selling olive oil but used that as an example. If you read my original post, I put

Yes I know, I used it as an example just as you did. The principles apply to whatever you're selling if you're making it from own grown produce, bought in ingredients or parts, or buying finished item to sell on.

Re mark up, I think I should have said 100%, cost to retailer is 50% of retail price.

Hope this makes it clearer.

Valli

When companies do market research they check out the effect of different price bandings for new products and see how much people are prepared to pay, given the units they expect to shift.
Also depends on where you are selling. On a 'normal' market, for instance, people would expect to get a bit of a bargain. On the other hand were you to sell at a specialist market or event you could probably charge more. If you were selling in Bakewell or Matlock you could charge more than if you were selling in Chesterfield, for example. Similarly if there is nothing like your product being offered where you are selling then you would expect to corner the market like the Chocomoo cupcake stall did in Chesterfield. But there's a competitor started up now - saw it today - not far from them and the competitor is selling their cupcakes in little individual pre-wrapped clear plastic insect-proof pods as opposed to on open display like the first stall did.
So, really, it's a 'how long is a piece of string' question, yours.