Introduction

1. Theoretical foundations of the study of pricing in the field of trade

1.1 Essence of price and pricing

1.2 Features of pricing at trade enterprises

1.3 Methods of price regulation in the consumer market

2. Analysis and evaluation of the pricing system in Vostok LLC

2.1 general characteristics enterprises

2.2 Pricing system in Vostok LLC

Conclusion

List of sources used

Applications

Introduction

Price and pricing system is the second essential element of marketing activity after the product. That is why the development of a pricing strategy and prices should be given the closest attention by the management of any enterprise that wants to most effectively and long-term develop its activities in the market, since any false or insufficiently thought-out step is immediately reflected in the dynamics of sales and profitability. Decision-making in the field of prices involves the need to take into account many factors.

Small businesses in the trade have a small number of employees, and therefore there are some pricing features for such enterprises. Firstly, often a small business does not have a separate department that would deal with the problems of economic analysis and pricing, and this work has to be done by the head (owner) of the enterprise, therefore, you need to save time on complex mathematical calculations. Secondly, the range of products of such enterprises, as a rule, is not large.

At the same time, a correct assessment of all market conditions and the capabilities of an enterprise in determining prices for the factors it sells, the means of production, is a guarantee of survival in conditions of competitive enterprise trade, prosperity and success, stability of the financial situation, of course, with efficient and mobile production and economic activity.

At a trading enterprise, in the conditions of working on the market and obtaining all the initial factors of production from the market, special, systematic work should be organized to observe, study, develop a strategy and tactics in the field of prices both for the products, services, works sold by the enterprise, and for production factors. , bought by the enterprise on the market (in market conditions): means of production, natural resources, labor. Correctly pursued pricing policy can significantly increase the efficiency of the company. Errors in determining the price level often lead to negative consequences. All this makes pricing an important part of a firm's marketing strategy.

Pricing is an important element of the management accounting system. It implies not only the establishment of prices for products, goods, services and works, but also the process of managing the prices of a trade enterprise in various market situations.

The relevance of the topic of the work lies in the fact that the pricing system of a trade enterprise should be aimed at determining the most efficient way of the price that the buyer is willing to pay, as well as explore the possibility of selling products at a price that includes a certain profit.

The purpose of the work is to explore the pricing system at a trade enterprise and methods of price regulation in the consumer market.

To achieve the goal, the following tasks are set in the work:

- to study the theoretical foundations of pricing: the essence and features of pricing at trade enterprises, methods of price regulation in the consumer market;

- analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of pricing at a trade enterprise and its impact on the results of the enterprise;

- suggest directions for price regulation at the trade enterprise under study.

The subject of the study is the pricing system of the enterprise.

The object of the study is Vostok LLC.

1. Theoretical foundations of the study of pricing in the field of trade

1.1 Essence of price and pricing

Price is the most important criterion for making consumer decisions. Determination of the price is one of the most difficult tasks facing any enterprise. And it is the price that determines the success of the enterprise - sales volumes, income, profits.

Establishing a certain price for a product or service serves for their subsequent sale and profit. It is very important to set the price in such a way that it is not too high or too low.

The effectiveness of the trading activity of the enterprise and the work of the enterprise as a whole is largely determined by a reasonable pricing system. To help users with this task, a pricing functionality is included in the configuration.

Schematically, the entire pricing process can be represented as follows (Table 1.1):

Table 1.1. The process of pricing in a trade enterprise

It is easy to see that each subsequent type of price includes the previous one.

For the convenience of the pricing policy, the following categories of selling prices are provided.

Base prices. These prices are set for each item only manually. These prices are determined by the user and stored in the system. When accessing these prices, the system takes the most recent value.

Estimated prices. As well as base prices, settlement prices are set by the user and their value is stored in the system. The difference is that for these prices there is an automatic way to calculate them based on the base price data. That is, the settlement prices are obtained from the base prices by a certain procedure: by increasing the base price values ​​by a certain percentage of the markup or by entering the base price into the range. Regardless of how the settlement price is finally obtained, the system stores only the resulting price value itself and the type of base prices on the basis of which the calculation was made. Settlement prices can be wholesale and retail prices obtained on the basis of the planned cost of production.

Dynamic prices. The values ​​of these prices are not stored in the system, only the way they are calculated is stored. These prices, as well as calculated ones, are obtained from base prices using special mechanisms. However, the results of the calculation are not stored in the system, the calculation is made immediately at the time of accessing these prices. This makes it possible to use prices in the event that selling prices are tightly linked to the base price, which changes quite often.

For dynamic prices, you must indicate the percentage of the discount or markup by which the base prices will be adjusted during the calculation. For settlement prices, the discount percentage will act as a default value that can be overridden during the pricing process.

The planned cost price type is intended not for buyers, but for internal control of the company's selling prices in order to exclude cases of loss-making sales when, as a result of applying discounts, the selling price falls below the cost price.

In the conditions of market relations the role of the price for any commercial organization sharply increases. This circumstance is due to many reasons.

The price level depends on:

- the amount of profit of a commercial organization;

- competitiveness of the organization and its products;

- financial stability of the enterprise.

Choosing the right pricing system when forming a market price is a rather difficult task and requires the creation of marketing services.

In a market economy, commodity prices fluctuate constantly. The direction of change in market prices for specific types of goods of trade enterprises and in specific periods may be different. However, there are also general trends that are characteristic both for individual groups of consumer goods and for their entire range as a whole.

Price in a market economy is one of the most important factors determining the profitability of an enterprise. Therefore, pricing, i.e. the general goals that the enterprise is going to achieve with the help of prices for its products, and the system of measures aimed at this should be well thought out and justified.

Currently, pricing in the field of trade is becoming increasingly important for the enterprise, as consumers began to pay more and more attention to the ratio of price and utility (value) of products, which led to an increase in the role of price in the marketing complex. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the improvement of this ratio is not always directly determined by a price reduction. In this sense, increasing competitiveness can be achieved not by reducing costs, but by a well-thought-out system of measures aimed at increasing the price sensitivity of potential buyers.

At the same time, unlike in the past, when the pricing system was mainly associated with horizontal competition and enterprises competed with interchangeable types of products, fierce vertical competition now makes a significant contribution to the choice of pricing system. The latter largely determines the actions of enterprises involved in the manufacture of final products, aimed at increasing their share of the cost paid by the end consumer. This leads to the strengthening of corporate pricing policy and the search for ways of effective pricing.

At the same time, the positions of customized pricing are strengthening, i.е. there is a shift from product-oriented marketing to customer-oriented. In pricing, the prospects for the subjective perception of the product by the consumer, the achievement of its target effect, are increasingly taken into account. In connection with these great importance acquires the creation of a "price image".

Pricing strategy: how to fight for the buyer, increasing the profitability of the business

• price - price, discounts.

Pricing policy is an important element of the strategy of any mature and developing company, as pricing directly affects the financial results of the business. Before setting the price on the shelf, it is important to determine the main goals and principles of pricing, assess the strengths and weaknesses of both the product and the store, external and internal factors, and the competitive environment. A structured approach to pricing will lead to growth financial efficiency, and the first step to achieving your goals is choosing the right strategic approach to pricing. Business expert of the BI Department of KORUS Consulting Group of Companies Sergey Vorobyov spoke about the pricing strategies, the advantages and disadvantages of one or another approach, and also shared how to choose the right pricing policy for your business and thereby increase business profitability.

Our country switched to a market economy just a couple of decades ago. The previously global task of planning and distributing products became private, the market was filled with many small participants who had to learn to solve it on their own and, as a rule, with improvised means. Gradually, small players became first large regional ones, and then gigantic, federal ones. The dynamic growth of the retail sector has cultivated the development of technologies and processes, without which it was impossible to manage the emerging networks with a vast geography. Many time-tested technologies were borrowed from Western colleagues. Thus, approaches to the management of retail trade have become entrenched in the concept of "retail" in our country as well.

As soon as the capacity of the retail market reached a critical level, the participants faced a battlefield of competitive struggle, where the most efficient player wins. But how is this efficiency measured, and how can it be improved?

The goals of the retail business (as part of the issue of its effectiveness) have been formed for a long time and remain unchanged: minimizing costs and maximizing revenue. Costs are reduced mainly under the influence of internal factors (logistics optimization, payroll, rent, operating costs, etc.), and revenue directly depends on the object of any retail trade - the buyer and his needs. The one who satisfies them most fully and quickly, adapts to their change - occupies a leading position. The buyer himself determines where to satisfy his needs, and who can cover them with the highest quality. On what principles does the buyer make such a choice?

In marketing, there is a 4P theory that describes why a consumer chooses a particular seller of goods or services:

• place - location, convenience of location, accessibility;
• product - services or assortment, its breadth and quality;
• promotion - promotion, advertising;
• price - price, discounts.

Here is the key to the heart of the consumer. These four points act as a weapon in the struggle for the buyer, and the competitive advantage on each / any of them increases the business efficiency mentioned above. In the conditions of a large number of players in the market, their wide geography and diversity, the leading role in achieving the advantage is occupied by technologies and business processes that allow you to receive, process, analyze information, form and implement the company's strategy and tactics to win the desired market share. That is why in recent years the issue of developing a conceptual approach to each 4P factor, supported by technical capabilities, has become particularly acute.

The marketing mix tool "price" includes issues related not only to the cost of goods sold, but also to other costs of the buyer. This refers to time, fare, emotional costs that arise in the process of making a purchase. Thus, the price means not only the cost of the product, but also its value to the consumer. The pricing strategy should be consistent with the positioning of the retailer, the strategy of behavior in relation to competitors and other elements of the marketing mix, should also take into account the pricing strategy of the manufacturer, used by him to achieve his goals.

Pricing in a retail trade enterprise is based on two main methods: cost-oriented, market-oriented. Orientation to costs, involves the determination by the retailer of the selling price of the goods as the sum of its purchase price and a fixed percentage of it. In market orientation, prices are set based on perceptions of buyers' willingness to pay for a given product. The main advantage of the cost method is that it allows you to achieve the target level of profit. It is fast, mechanistic and relatively simple. The advantage of the market method lies in its linkage with the concept of marketing, i.e. it takes into account both the desires and the possibilities of buyers. However, the practical implementation of the market method is associated with considerable difficulties, especially in trading companies, the range of which includes thousands of trade items, each of which requires individual pricing solutions. The optimal solution can be achieved by combining the cost and market approaches, when the first becomes the basis of the pricing strategy, and the second - a way to attract customers.

The goal of a pricing strategy is to find the right balance between the interests of the consumer and the interests of the company. In addition, the price should take into account the situation in the competitive market. There are two opposing pricing strategies in today's retail market: Daily Low Prices (DPRs) and High/Low Prices.

Retailers using the ENC strategy emphasize that their retail prices are constantly somewhere between the usual price level and the level of sales organized by competitors, and they do not always offer the cheapest goods. At certain points in time, the price may be higher than buying on sale in a competitor's store or in the wholesale market.

Advantages of this strategy: the threat of price wars is reduced, as buyers, realizing that prices are at an acceptable level, increase the one-time volume of purchases and visit the store more often; the need for advertising decreases, tk. low prices consistently attract buyers; may increase profits, tk. the store abandons the practice of significant discounts adopted in the strategy of high / low prices. The difficulty of implementing the SNC is that low prices must be maintained constantly, i.e. clothing should be sold cheaper than in department stores, and ordinary products (flour, milk, sugar) cheaper than in supermarkets.

Resellers with a high/low price strategy in some cases offer products at higher prices than those of SNC competitors, but they often run sales and actively advertise them. Strengths high/low price strategies are as follows: the same product is intended for different segments. At the market entry stage, it is offered to "superinnovators" and "innovators" at high prices, and at the end of the season to "conservatives" and "moderate, frugal buyers" attracted by the cheapness of the product.

Although the retailer's main pricing strategy is most often a combination of EPR and high/low prices, various price incentives are often offered to customers. Very popular tools to attract buyers through price incentives are: coupons, discounts, plastic cards, price leadership, multiple pricing, price equalization, odd and non-round prices, etc. All of them are determined by the main pricing strategy.

Coupons are certificates that entitle their holders to a reduced price or other benefit when purchasing a product or service. They are mainly used for consumer goods. Coupons are published in newspapers and magazines (often after advertising the relevant product), they are laid out in consumer mailboxes, sent by mail, applied directly to goods, handed out to passers-by. Coupons inform consumers about a product, encourage them to make a purchase, draw their attention to a particular store, enhancing it competitive advantage, increase the intensity of use of the goods. Most often, with the help of coupons, they try to attract new customers, attracting a regular customer is not always advisable and is even negative, since the total number of purchases does not increase, and the profit from the sale of a unit of goods decreases.

Discounts from the price - this is the part of the price that is returned to the buyer of the goods. The retailer carefully calculates the system of price discounts, they are beneficial to him when working with product suppliers and, under certain conditions, when settling accounts with end consumers to create competitive advantages.

Plastic cards are used by firms that work with high margins, which allow them to painlessly reduce prices for any buyer, or by firms conducting an advertising campaign, where a plastic card is considered as an element of advertising. The card entitles you to a discount for a certain amount or, more often, for a certain or floating percentage on your next purchase. Floating interest may change its performance depending on the day of the week, season, the introduction of additional benefits, or increase in proportion to the amount for which the buyer has purchased goods from a trading company over a long period.

The scheme of club plastic cards differs from the previous method of providing discounts for the next purchase only in that the organization of the club, schemes and distribution of the cards are taken over by a specialized third-party company (for example, a joint project of the Karusel retail chain and Alfa-Bank - the “Visa-Alfa-Bank Magic Card”, which allows you to pay in any stores, pharmacies, restaurants, beauty salons and other trade and service enterprises around the world and at the same time accumulate additional points that can be spent in the Karusel network or the Malina accumulative program, which allows you to accumulate points by making purchases in partner merchants of this program, including the Citystore supermarket).

Price leadership (brand strategies) in which a retailer sets prices for certain products below the usual level, hoping that this event will attract additional customers. This will increase the sales of other goods in the store, as the buyer gets the impression that the prices in the store are lower than in others. Sometimes such goods are called unprofitable leaders. Although, in order to be unprofitable, such goods must be sold at a price below cost, which usually does not happen. As an "inviting" product, everyday goods are used, the prices of which are well known to buyers. In supermarkets, for example, eggs, milk, sunflower oil are usually used as "inviting" goods. The "inviting" product strategy is designed for price-sensitive buyers.

Multiple pricing is that homogeneous goods of different weight (volume) are sold at different prices. For example, 100 gr. a package of coffee of any brand will always cost more (in terms of 100 grams of mass) than the same coffee, but in a 200-gram can. This method is aimed at increasing the volume of sales of goods. Its peculiarity is that it allows buyers to stock some goods for future use, consider the purchase profitable, and ultimately leads to an increase in the consumption of goods by the buyer.

Multidimensional pricing is used to "push" a product and is aimed at getting the buyer to buy two or more types of products at the same time. For example, in this way: "three for five hundred rubles."

With the price line alignment method, the store offers different levels of predetermined price items. The buyer is left to choose between cheap, or medium-priced, or expensive goods. Moreover, on the shelves of the store, goods are grouped by price levels. When purchasing goods, retailers choose those that correspond to the chosen price levels. It is easier for the buyer to make a choice, since he does not get confused in a large number of brands. Buying takes less time.

Odd and non-round prices are a price concept with psychological ramifications. Such pricing is inefficient for "pre-selection" items, which require some thought to purchase. (For example, when buying a car, it doesn't really matter whether the buyer has to pay $5,995 or $6,000 for it.) Non-round prices are associated with the buyer with a cheap hot item.

To improve the visual perception of prices, its adjustment is used (for example, setting a price of 499 instead of 500).

It is important for market participants to form a firm's pricing strategy, taking into account the actions of competitors in pricing, to justify decisions on setting or changing prices in competitive conditions for new companies entering the market, taking into account market expectations and economic indicators. This book will introduce representatives of small and medium-sized businesses with modern approaches to organizing and improving the efficiency of retail trade, show the relationship between pricing and business development strategy and teach how to make pricing decisions. The book is intended for specialists in economic services, entrepreneurs, as well as for a wide range of people interested in pricing issues.

• Chapter 1. Price as an economic category of commercial pricing

* * *

The following excerpt from the book Pricing in retail trade (D. V. Sharmin) provided by our book partner - the company LitRes.

1.1. The essence of prices and their classification

The tangible value of a product (work, service), or as much as at a certain moment the buyer can pay the seller, is called the price of this product. The moment when the seller transfers the goods to the buyer is considered the current moment, it appears during:

1) delivery of goods to the buyer, if this obligation of the seller is indicated in the contract;

2) placing the goods at the disposal of the buyer, if the goods must be transferred to the buyer at the location of the goods.

Determination of the price at the current moment means a certain amount of money that the last of the buyers paid or the next one will pay. Karl Marx in his work "Capital" defined the price as "the monetary name of the labor embodied in the commodity: an indicator of the magnitude of the value of the commodity ...".

Price – This:

1) the ordinate of the point of intersection of the supply and demand curves;

2) the most important indicator of the effectiveness of the economic and commercial activities of the enterprise (one of the factors of its survival in modern conditions).

To make a decision on the price of a particular product, it is necessary to establish:

1) the amount of demand for a given product (work, service) and the degree of its duration;

2) the boundaries of the market for goods in terms of volume and time of action;

3) the presence and nature of competitors in the market;

4) prospects for sales growth;

5) the level of prices in the market for similar products;

6) relationship between price and sales volumes;

7) the degree of influence on the market and the scope of state intervention;

8) the amount of production costs;

9) the possibility of quickly launching goods into production;

10) the reality of increasing the volume of production of goods.

Consequently, the price is a complex and complex category, it intersects almost all the main problems of the development of the economy, society as a whole, mainly it concerns the production and sale of products, determining its value, division and use of GDP and national income. Basically, the formation of the cost of goods (works, services) occurs in the process of production and sale, when the use of cash savings is regulated with the help of a set price. It follows from what has been said that the basis of prices is the necessary expenditure of labor, the value of commodities, which, through the form of money, are reflected in the price. The price is also influenced by many factors, such as transportation costs, which make up a significant share in the price of products. Transportation costs, in turn, are affected by the type of transport and the period during which the goods must be delivered to the consumer. The value of an item delivered by air will be much more than the value of an item delivered by rail.

The price of a certain quantity of a commodity constitutes its value; therefore, it is correct to speak of price as the value of a commodity in monetary terms (exchange value).

When exchanging goods for goods, a new category of price appears - this is the commodity price of this type of goods. You can get a complete picture of the price by considering it as an economic category, which will combine such concepts as the seller's price and the buyer's price.

The market mainly uses a managerial approach to procurement pricing, where the price is a characteristic of the product, which considers key concepts market economy, such as need, requests, demand, supply, etc. The strategy for ensuring the cost-effectiveness of an enterprise includes a set of measures that are aimed at structuring and qualitatively implementing the control and accounting function of an organization, the basis of which and the final indicator that characterizes a product is a price that takes into account interests of all participants in the process of commodity exchange (producers and consumers).

Prices also largely regulate the structural proportions of social production. When, at a given price level, supply and demand are completely balanced, the volume of production and consumption can be considered optimal. If such a balance is disturbed, then the price is a signal to expand (constrict) production or consumption. Intra-industry and inter-industry price ratios show the directions of effective capital investments, characterize the relative efficiency of certain industries. The price, which takes into account the effectiveness of products, can play a regulatory role in the development of new technology and innovative processes.

Prices also act as a macroeconomic regulator of economic activity. Changes in retail prices and tariffs affect the living standards of the population. The level of prices for primary natural resources is reflected in the production efficiency of all intermediate and final industries. The regulatory function of price is also manifested in the fact that in the current market, prices are the regulator of the development (not development) of any types of new products, the evaluation of the effectiveness of economic activities, the direction of investments, etc. The dynamics of domestic prices is associated with efficiency foreign trade, the value of gross domestic product (GDP), national income, the necessary money supply and directly depends on the level of prices in the national economy, and this also manifests their regulatory function.

The results of an organization's activities, such as profits and profitability, often depend on the price level, which is why prices play an important role in the economy. The basis for making decisions on the establishment of purchase prices can be the results marketing research and weighted expert assessments of the market situation, not only within the region, but also much wider than its borders, since prices, as a rule, are the main factor in determining sales markets and investment volumes, and are also a determining indicator of the feasibility of producing this product, with calculation of production costs.

According to the nature of the turnover of industrial products, there are three types of prices.

Bulk prices- these are the prices for goods that are delivered by the seller (supplier) to the buyer for the purpose of its subsequent resale (professional use). This type of price is used when selling goods in large quantities to enterprises, marketing and intermediary organizations, trade organizations. Wholesale prices are used in international trade, the level of which is usually lower than the level of domestic wholesale prices. The peculiarity of the wholesale price is that in its size it is lower than the retail price by the value of the retail allowance (cape), and its level will always be slightly higher than the wholesale price when selling goods in small wholesale. Sale at wholesale prices occurs only in the case when the production of products is carried out in a limited number of points, and the sphere of consumption of these products has an extensive segment.

Retail prices These are the prices paid by retail buyers of products. Retailers buy products from wholesalers and then raise the price by the amount of their costs and possible profit. Manufacturers initially offer a list of their retail prices for products, but retailers may stick to these prices or provide a discount (markup) on these products. The retail price is set for products that are sold in small lots, usually retail prices are higher than wholesale prices. There is such a phenomenon in the market as maintenance of retail prices - a type of restrictive trading in which the supplier sets a price that is binding on all retailers.

For example, the suggested retail price of books is printed on the covers because, under the no-discount book sale agreement, book sellers are not allowed to sell below that price. When products are delivered to the seller through intermediaries, the retail price is often formed from the purchase price and the trade markup, and the trade markup, in turn, is determined by the seller based on market conditions (current supply and demand). At retail prices, not only retail trade is carried out, but also mail order, both domestically and internationally.

Purchase price, according to which the state purchases products from enterprises, organizations, and the population. Under market relations, purchase prices have turned into the actual emerging selling price of agricultural products, which is under the influence of monopolists, intermediaries of supply and demand. The state, trying to control the price level, since 1995 introduced guaranteed prices for basic food products, but was unable to finance the implementation of this idea, so these prices were used as reference prices when purchasing for the formation of federal (regional) food funds.

However, price liberalization has led to a faster rate of increase in prices for inputs compared to the increase in prices for agricultural products. It affected the proportions of the exchange, for example, if in 1991 it was necessary to sell 54.7 tons of wheat to purchase one tractor, then in 1995 it was necessary to sell 126.4 tons of wheat.

And in order to prevent the mass ruin of rural producers, they introduced support prices, such prices include guaranteed purchase prices, which determine the lower limit of free market prices, taking into account the reimbursement of transport costs, as well as target and threshold prices.

The formation of prices for services usually takes place according to the tariffs (rates) approved by the organization, therefore, when drawing up tariffs for services, not only the amount of work is taken into account, but also the amount of time spent and the quality of the service performed. The Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation has developed Methodological Recommendations on the Formation and Application of Free Prices and Tariffs for Products, Goods and Services (Letter No. 7-1026 dated December 20, 1995), which do not apply to products subject to state regulation of prices and tariffs (p. 1.3 methodological recommendations):

“Free prices and tariffs for paid services for the population are formed based on the cost and necessary profit, taking into account market conditions, quality and consumer properties of services, the degree of urgency of order execution and value added tax. When calculating the taxable turnover for goods that are subject to excises, they include the amount of excises ... "

There are also other types of prices, such as prices for construction products.

Construction products are valued at three types of prices:

1) estimated cost - size limit construction costs for each facility;

2) list price - the average estimated cost of a unit of the final product of a typical construction object;

3) contract price - the price established by agreement between customers and contractors.

Transfer prices formed during the exchange of goods between enterprises that are part of one transnational organization. For example, if the customs authorities decide that the transaction price declared by the importer was affected by a "link" between legally recognized partners in the business (one directly controls the other, or both are controlled by a third party; they are employers and employees; members of the same family), they have the right not to accept the price of the transaction and must then enter into consultations with the importer.

Prices are also divided according to the degree and method of regulation: rigid (prices set by the state); established (regulated by norms); contractual (contract); free.

Hard prices hinder the self-regulation of the economy, they are set by monopoly producers for products that have a high elasticity of demand in relation to prices; in terms of content, these prices act as the opposite of flexible prices that quickly and naturally respond to changes in supply and demand.

Managed prices (hard) usually established by the government. Not responding to changes in supply and demand, they are an obstacle to market self-regulation of the country's economy and hinder market freedom.

When determining a rigid price, the forecasting method based on proportional dependencies is widely used (indicators are “tied” to the base indicator using proportional dependencies). The base indicator is the sales proceeds or the cost of goods sold, to which the standard profit is added or the state price subsidy is deducted.

In accordance with Art. 424 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the execution of the contract is paid at a price established by agreement of the parties, but sometimes, in cases provided for by law, prices (tariffs, rates, rates) regulated by authorized state bodies are applied.

The Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides for a special rule according to which, when selling goods (works, services) at state regulated prices (tariffs) established for tax purposes, regulated prices (tariffs) are applied (clause 13, article 40 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Regulators natural monopolies certain methods of regulating the activities of subjects of natural monopolies, including price regulation, may be applied (Article 6 of the Federal Law of August 17, 1995 No. 147-FZ “On Natural Monopolies”). The influence of the state on prices during regulation is usually indirect (limited) in nature and is carried out by influencing changes in supply and demand. State regulation Tariffs of natural monopolies are sometimes replaced by market mechanisms of regulation (through the application of relevant norms of antimonopoly legislation). Thus, by setting a higher (lower) price for products, the state can reduce taxes paid by buyers (consumers) of these products to stimulate this particular type of production, which in turn can lead to an increase in demand for products. Since the beginning of 2008, the growth of tariffs for the services of natural monopolies and housing and communal services has increased sharply, the average annual increase in electricity for the population amounted to 15.7%, for natural gas - 26.8%, for housing and communal services - 18.3%. This increase is significantly higher than in previous years. Therefore, from the beginning of 2008, the state planned a reversal of prices, up to this point they had been declining, now they will rise. And since this will directly affect producers, it can be called a contribution to the development of inflationary expectations.

After analyzing the situation that had arisen, we found out that the primary influence on the fact that domestic producers began to raise prices since the autumn of 2007 was not the growth of world food prices, but decisions taken to increase from January 2008 tariffs for the services of natural monopolies and housing and communal services. Domestic commodity producers, in turn, included this increase in the price of products in advance, so the prices for products rose. The process of rising prices or depreciation of money (inflation) occurs as a result of the overflow of commodity circulation markets with money supply and is the result of instability when demand exceeds supply. Uneven price growth generates inequality in profit rates, stimulates the outflow of resources from one sector of the economy to another, but timely examination of such actions makes it possible to identify such risks.

Indexation of regulated prices (tariffs) for goods (services) should be carried out more evenly throughout the year, and as long as state regulation of natural monopoly tariffs is maintained, its impact on inflation dynamics can be reduced by reducing indexation from the beginning of the year. For many years there was a practice when prices (tariffs) were raised from January 1 of the next year, this led to the fact that inflationary processes were already formed before this date, therefore, as a rule, at the beginning of the year there was an unreasonably high jump in prices. All this led to the fact that proposals for the introduction of state regulation of prices for individual products are again being discussed, and as soon as this is implemented, inflation will accelerate and the forgotten problem of commodity shortages will again become a reality.

The contract price is set for products that are produced in a small batch. The basis of the contract price is the cost price (cost estimate) for products, when, by mutual agreement between the seller and the buyer, the price is set in the manner determined by the pricing authorities.

This type of price is also used in foreign economic relations in barter transactions, within the framework of direct economic relations of enterprises, with the help of a business contract, a supply contract, a sales contract and other contracts as agreed with the parties to the contract. To the contractual price, allowances (discounts) for quality, urgency of implementation can be established; the price is allocated in the contracts in a special section.

The price that is set by the investor (customer) and the general contractor (subcontractor) on an equal basis when concluding a contract for capital construction, repair of buildings and structures (subcontract), including the results of tenders (contract bidding), is called free (contractual) ) prices.

Inconsistency in contractual terms, such as price, quality and range of products received, is one of the most frequent violations of the terms of the sales contract.

It is possible to set a contractual price in foreign currency (clause 2, article 317 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). And until the obligation is paid, its size is revalued (with the formation of an exchange rate difference in tax accounting), and the final price in rubles is formed only at the time of repayment of the debt, and until that moment, the contract price is indicated in all primary documents.

Free prices for products are set (including VAT) by product manufacturers in agreement (on an equal basis) with retail and other enterprises selling products to the population, non-market consumers, as well as with intermediaries (including trade and purchasing, supply and marketing enterprises and organizations). If the consumer does not have the opportunity to choose another supplier of such products, the final decision on the level of prices and their application is made by state bodies for the establishment and regulation of prices (tariffs). The world market uses multiple varieties of prices, so the same product can be sold at different prices depending on the terms of the commercial transaction, the nature of the market and sources of price information. The most generalized expression of the price used in international transactions is the concept of world prices, which refers to the prices of large export-import transactions concluded in the main centers of world trade. Participants in a trade transaction begin negotiations on a price with a base price, the basis of which is the price published in reference books (reference price) and price lists (list price).

The base price is determined by the price index of international trade (export and import) in general and for individual groups of goods. Base prices are published in international and national foreign trade statistics, economic periodicals.

base price- this is the price of products with certain quality parameters, which is set at the time of the transaction, and when the market conditions change, the base price remains stable, and allowances and discounts change significantly.

Reference price- This is a type of wholesale prices in domestic and international trade. Reference prices for the seller and the buyer serve as a starting point in determining the contract price, otherwise, they are nominal in nature, representing a source of official information on prices. Reference prices are used for the supply of small and medium-sized batches of products and serve as the basis for setting discounts (surcharges). In practice, reference prices for exported (imported) goods are called the list price. Reference prices are published in periodicals (newspapers, bulletins, industry and economic journals), catalogs and other reference books issued by publishing houses. Retail price for consumer goods, which is recommended to its manufacturers, is also called the list price.

Price reductions organized by the manufacturer are accompanied by distribution discounts, and a perfectly executed operation can lead to an increase in sales, so in order to attract buyers, the seller can give them a discount from the list price in the absence of an agreement to maintain a minimum retail price. In this case, the price of the supplier, which is indicated in the invoice issued for the wholesaler (retailer), before discounts are deducted, will also be called the list price.

The price of a specific trade transaction, reflected in the document for the supply of goods, is called invoice price. The invoiced price for the same product may vary depending on transport costs and insurance costs, in trade it is the price indicated on the invoice for the delivered goods. Depending on the method of delivery, the invoice price sometimes includes the cost of transporting goods, loading and unloading operations, insurance, payment of export duties, and various fees.

World prices are formed as a monetary expression of the price of production, due to the specific technologies of the countries participating in the world market. World prices are set in a freely convertible currency, since payment in a non-convertible currency leads to an unreasonable price increase, this type of price is set by leading manufacturers that have a significant share in the total volume of production and constantly maintain their leading position in the commodity markets. World prices can also be called the prices of large-scale transactions that involve unrelated export (import) transactions, because otherwise, when performing barter transactions, trading partners will be able to allow significant deviations in prices, these are the prices of basic or representative markets.

World prices are not an absolute indicator, since they change along with the conditions of world production and consumption. Thus, the depletion of deposits, the corresponding reduction in world resources from which a particular product is produced (while maintaining a stable demand for it), lead to a change (increase) in the world price for it. On the other hand, if new deposits are discovered, and the demand for this product decreases, then even with an excess of resources, the price for it will certainly fall.

World prices can also be formed as a result of an agreement between the leading industrialized countries and change in the event of the cancellation of such agreements. The level of world prices is also influenced by the monetary reforms carried out by the governments of countries, as a result of which the scale of prices within the country changes, which in turn affects the formation of the exchange rate. For example, the level of world prices for oil is influenced by the OPEC countries, for grain - by the USA and Canada, etc.

The ratio of supply and demand for certain products has a great influence on the level of world prices due to the fact that prices differ depending on the characteristics of the concluded contract, the place and conditions for the sale of products, as well as the time of year.

Comparable prices- these are the prices of a certain period (year, month), on a certain date or in a certain region (economic region, territorial-administrative formation, etc.), conditionally taken as a base when comparing cost indicators. Comparable prices make it possible to identify the patterns of development of the displayed phenomena, the changes occurring in them, in time and space. For the revaluation of the consolidated cost economic indicators(gross domestic product (GDP), national income, capital investments, fixed assets and others) at comparable prices, deflators are used - composite (aggregate) price indices showing the average change in prices for the relevant aggregated groups of goods (services), types of activity, sectors of the economy in general for the national economy. Calculation of composite price indices - deflators for the retrospective period and recalculation of composite economic indicators in comparable prices is carried out by state statistics bodies.

Comparable can be called a price given in value under the conditions of a certain period of time, it is used when comparing production volumes, trade turnover, and other indicators in certain periods in order to avoid distortions introduced by inflation. Comparable prices are used when comparing consumption levels in different years, they reflect the dynamics of the mass of use values. In this case, the price of products acts only as a means of commensuration, bringing to a common denominator products that are incommensurable in physical terms. If two years' output is compared as a comparable price, one can take the price of any year, while, when analyzing a longer period, the price of the base year preceding the year of major changes in the price system should be taken as the comparable price.

For example, in order to eliminate the difference in price levels, when comparing cost economic indicators by region, the prices of one region with an average price level can be conditionally taken as comparable prices.

The regulatory approach to tariff regulation is evolving as telecommunication markets move from monopoly to competition. Prices are subject to regulation only for the services of existing operators in certain markets where operators occupy a dominant position. At the same time, basic local telephone services provided by dominant operators are regulated in almost all countries, while local telephone services provided by competitive fixed and mobile market participants are often exempt from price regulation.

Discretionary price regulation- this is the establishment of prices below the cost of connection, subscription and local call services. Discretionary price regulation is aimed at achieving social (political) goals, and not at solving financial (economic) problems. This regulation is preserved where the state continues to manage telecommunication networks, in our country such regulation is carried out by Rossvyaz. It regulates them by setting marginal (maximum or minimum) prices for interconnection services and traffic transmission services. Rossvyaz also establishes the volume of traffic transmission services (for example, no more than 1 thousand minutes per month per connection point), which is subject to guaranteed payment by the consumer of services if their volume in the billing period is less than the established value.

There have been changes in the normative legal regulation of communication services that have affected the procedure for maintaining separate accounting, the list of license conditions, connection services and traffic transmission. Changes have been made to the procedure for setting marginal prices for interconnection and traffic transmission services, for example, when determining the price for an interconnection service, the tariff unit is one connection point or the amount of state-regulated prices for communication services by operators occupying a significant position in the public network, creates conditions for the reproduction of the functional equivalent in the part of the telecommunication network that is used for additional load. All this makes it possible to recover the costs of operating maintenance of the used part of the telecommunication network and include a reasonable rate of return (profitability) from the capital used in the provision of such services.

For communication services and parts of the telecommunication network, as well as for all activities carried out and used for the provision of these services, operators must keep separate records of income and expenses. The procedure for maintaining separate accounting is determined by the federal executive authority in the field of communications.

Prices for household and communal services- this is a payment for services provided to the population by household and communal services, for example, prices for laundry services, hairdressers, dry cleaners, prices for repairing clothes and shoes, as well as rent for an apartment, telephone, etc.

Geographically, the classification of prices for household and communal services is divided into:

1) prices are zone (single for the country);

2) local (regional) prices.

Belt prices (single for the country) are established only for the main types of products and through state regulation, such types of products include energy carriers, electricity, rent, transport, and some others.

Prices are local (regional) are determined by regional authorities and administrations, in the process of formation these prices are guided by the costs of production and sale, which are typical for a given region. Prices and tariffs for the majority of communal and personal services rendered to the population, purchase prices for agricultural products are regional.

Determination of the current internal price of a security is based on the dynamics of its price in the past. Current prices financial assets reflect all relevant information regarding the future of securities and assume that the current price always absorbs all the necessary additional information, it reflects all future expectations in a concentrated manner. The most common is the fundamentalist theory of estimating the theoretical value of financial assets. There are three main theories for the valuation of financial assets: fundamentalist, technocratic, and the guesswork theory.

Securities have an inherent value, which is quantified as the present value of the future earnings associated with that security (fundamentalist valuation).

To determine the current intrinsic value of a security, it is enough to know only the dynamics of its price in the past, according to technocrats.

The best method of analysis is the one that makes money, and all investors agree on this. And many organizations have on their staff the owners of both investment mindsets.

Those who use the guesswork approach assume that the current prices of financial assets flexibly reflect all relevant information, including information about the future of securities. However, both approaches are sometimes useless. For example, an investor has decided to buy a free-floating block of shares from an organization, and the overvaluation (undervaluation) of the “target” does not matter to him. Since for short operations with liquid instruments, technical analysis is better suited, which can be applied without forgetting about the fundamental factors acting on the market, but for strategic investments, a fundamental assessment is needed.

According to the theory current intrinsic value (PV) any security in general view can be calculated using the formula:

Where FV i is the expected cash flow i-th period(usually a year);

r– acceptable (expected or required) return;

i is the number of periods.

Indicators in the market of capital financial assets that are used by investors are:

1) average market return (k m );

2) risk-free return ( k rf ), which is understood as the yield of long-term government securities;

3) the expected return on the security (k e ), the feasibility of the operation with which it is analyzed;

4) coefficient β , which characterizes the marginal contribution of a given share to the risk of the market portfolio, which is understood as a portfolio consisting of investments in all securities listed on the market, and the proportion of investments in a particular security is equal to its share in the total market capitalization, on average for the market β = 1. For a security that is more risky than the market, β > 1; for a security that is less risky than the market, β < 1.

The market premium for the risk of investing in marketable assets is the difference (k m – k rf). The expected risk premium for investing in a given security is the difference (k e – k rf ). These two indicators are proportional to each other through β -coefficient:

k e – k rf = β(k m – k rf ).

Such a formula is convenient for understanding the essence of the relationship between premiums and the risk of the organization's securities. Since in practice we are talking about estimating the expected return of a particular security (or portfolio), then the formula is transformed as follows:

k e = k rf + β(k m – k rf ).

1.2. Composition and price structure

Pricing decisions for manufactured products cannot be made in isolation, they must take into account all aspects of production and are the main elements of a market economy.

Pricing The process by which a price is set for a product. The price for the company's products can be: the demand price (the one that buyers agreed to pay for the volume of products offered by the manufacturer), the offer price (the one for which the manufacturer would agree to sell the products), these prices may not coincide. The ask price, as a rule, does not coincide with the offer price, but if there is such an equality, this means that there is a single break-even price option for the seller and acceptable for the buyer. When making a pricing decision, they take into account internal constraints, expressed in costs and profitability, and external constraints, determined by purchasing power.

If the enterprise receives products at a fixed price, it is possible from a managerial point of view to agree with buyers on a fixed selling price.

However, sometimes the conditions (rules) that have developed in the market interfere. For example, a fixed price is much less common than a floating price, which is calculated according to a complicated formula, and two types of price calculation are used: cost and value.

Cost pricing is based on the actual costs of the organization for the production and marketing of products, the scheme of such pricing looks something like this:

Product - Technology - Cost - Price - Value - Customers.

With value pricing the price is set in such a way that by reaching a favorable agreement to provide the organization with more profit, the scheme of such pricing looks something like this:

Buyers - Value - Price - Costs - Technology - Product.

If standard approaches (pricing management) do not work, then the company is faced with a choice: to accept the risks of losses associated with a possible price drop, or to refuse the transaction. If the organization tries to ensure the maximum difference between the value of the product for the buyer, which he can pay, and the costs necessary to produce this product with precisely such properties; In this case, the price can be called the monetary expression of the value of the produced commodity.

In this case, the main task of pricing is to most of the difference turned into the profit of the organization, and a smaller part - into the gain of the buyer.

Historically, the formation of prices is preceded by evaluation processes, which in the future can lead to an exchange act, and only the present time expands the zone of rational price construction, at least in limited spaces. At the same time, such elements of trade as: sales channels, priority market segments, customer service are used.

The value of a product is measured in terms of the prices buyers are willing to pay. However, the amount of money buyers are willing to pay depends on the benefits they can get from consuming (possessing) the item. Value can be represented as follows:

Product Value = Customer Benefit + Organizational Profit + Organizational Cost.

The price is formed as a result of a long-term process of increasing the elasticity of supply, at which the buyer agrees to buy the product, or the minimum price at which the seller agrees to offer the product to the buyer:

Product price = Profit of the organization + Costs of the organization.

Purchase process – This:

1) an exchange system in which the search for satisfaction compensates for financial costs;

2) the impact of forces that create a balance in need through the attitude of the buyer to the product and price.

Consider the perception of price by the buyer and the manufacturer:

buyer price is a measure of the intensity of his need or the amount of satisfaction he expects;

seller price is the sum of costs and profits that the seller hopes to receive as a result of the sale.

consumption price- the total costs of the buyer associated with the acquisition and consumption of goods. Moreover, the choice of a specific product by the buyer is dictated by the desire to purchase a product with a minimum unit consumption price, which is calculated:

Unit price of consumption = Price of consumption / Product life.

Price serves as a defining, basic motive for the purchase and acts as a determining criterion for making consumer decisions, an element of competitiveness and the image of the organization.

The execution of the contract is paid at the price established by the agreement of the parties. In cases provided for by law, prices (tariffs, rates, rates, etc.) are applied, established or regulated by authorized state bodies (Article 424 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Pricing applies to:

1) for banking operations (interest rates for using a loan, for certain banking operations);

2) labor relations (rates, rates for work performed, technological operations).

Let's consider how the price structure is formed - the share of various elements of costs and net income included in prices on the basis of relevant regulations or formed independently. The structure of the price largely depends on the type of price, and many elements of the structure are common to all types of prices and tariffs.

The structure of wholesale prices of the enterprise- cost, profit, value added tax (VAT). The wholesale prices of the industry, at which products are sold by marketing organizations to the final consumer, include, in addition to the wholesale price of the enterprise, the amount of costs, standard profit and VAT of the intermediaries themselves (supply and marketing organizations).

Purchase price for agricultural products have a structure very close to the structure of the wholesale price of the enterprise, and the differences are mainly related to the content of cost elements included in the price.

Retail price structure is based on the structure of wholesale and purchase prices: the former determine retail prices for manufactured goods, the latter for food. And ultimately the retail price structure includes the wholesale price of the industry plus the costs, profits and VAT of all intermediary trade organizations. The more intermediaries between the manufacturer and the end user, the higher the level of retail prices.

The pricing strategy determines the economic policy of the organization, when the price becomes the object of market competition, the results of which are one of the important elements that allows the organization to stand out from competitors and take a leading position, which significantly increases the responsibility of the organization for the quality of economic decisions that, one way or another, directly or indirectly related to price management.

The price of a certain quantity of a commodity is also called the monetary value of the commodity, which can be used to measure the amount spent on the production of the commodity. work time. If the relationship between the producer and the consumer is of a commodity nature, the price can act as a link that ensures the balance between supply and demand (price and cost).

Price function called such a price action that directly affects the distribution and redistribution of income between various industries, enterprises, social groups of the population. For example, the state can maintain a relatively low level of prices for the products of certain industries (coal industry, agriculture), applying subsidies for them, thereby redistributing the income of other industries and industries. On the contrary, by setting relatively high prices for alcohol, tobacco and other products, the state accumulates high revenues, some of which is used as subsidies and subsidies.

Another meaning of price is its action as a regulator of supply and demand and a means of influencing production and consumption. The dynamics of prices is directly related to the dynamics of production costs and cash income. The price function in this case is manifested in the fact that the size production costs can be regulated by changing the prices of factors of production, and the level of consumption directly depends on the level of prices and tariffs.

Under conditions of centralized (state) pricing, price setting is the defining sphere of production, where prices are set based on the costs of producing a product or service. Sometimes this happens with the direct participation of public authorities on a planned basis before the start of production. And as a rule, with centralized (state) pricing, the market does not affect further price changes, but only fixes demand at the level of a given price level.

However, in the pursuit of profit, one should not forget that the tax authorities can check prices even if they deviate by more than 20% from the price level applied by the organization for identical goods (services) within a short period of time (clause 2, article 40 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation ). The process of pricing in the conditions of market pricing takes place at the stage of product sales, when supply and demand collide and the usefulness of the product (service) is determined, as well as the quality and competitiveness, and only then the final price of the product (service) is formed.

The main difference between market pricing is that prices are set in accordance with supply and demand by the owner (producer of goods). State bodies can regulate prices only for a limited range of goods, so the list of goods sold at state prices is determined by law.

Determining the markets for products, they solve many issues, such as the feasibility of producing this type of product, calculate costs, determine the amount of investment, but the determining factor is the price.

The most common in international practice are the following methods of setting prices for the company's products:

1) based on cost;

2) based on the analysis of break-even sales and ensuring target profit;

3) with a focus on demand;

4) by the level of current prices;

5) on the basis of closed auctions.

Despite the appearance of free pricing in a market economy, freedom is not absolute or unlimited. A real price war sometimes unfolds in the market, the main characteristics of which are fierce competition, a pricing strategy on the verge of a competitor's survival, and the presence of large players.

Price formation mechanism is a dynamic interconnected system of cumulative elements (multi-factor analysis of the market environment with the allocation of pricing features, justification of the strategy and forms of its implementation).

The entrepreneur sets prices for goods, varies them depending on the situation on the local market, owns a certain share of the profits, solving his strategic and operational commercial and economic tasks.

The main goals of pricing are to achieve profit, increase sales, and create a high reputation for the organization. Marketing research in the field of determining the elasticity of demand, the degree of sensitivity of consumers to price, involves a predictive analysis of the market environment, when, in accordance with the law of demand, the market tends to equilibrium.

The expression for the response of demand to a change in price is price elasticity demand, which determines the feasibility of price changes and the consequences of these changes. Price elasticity of demand is an expression as a percentage of the change in the volume of sales of a product as a result of a change in price by 1%.

Along with the analysis of the elasticity of demand, it is necessary to take into account the factors of sensitivity of buyers to the price level.

The buyer is most sensitive to price changes, its increase, if it goes beyond the range of the "fair price". At the same time, he is guided by the mechanisms for comparing the current price with the previous one, the price of a given product with the prices of analogue goods, compliance with the consumption standard, taking into account consumer value:

1) the more often the buyer perceives the price as an indicator of the level of quality, the less sensitive he is to price changes - this is the effect of assessing quality through price;

2) the more unique the product in terms of prestige, antiques, functional properties, the calmer its reaction to an increase in the sale price, especially within the framework of auctions, exhibitions, presentations - this is the effect of uniqueness;

3) the higher the cost of effective positioning of the brand, the creation of its popular image, the less sensitive the buyers are to the price level of the company they love, which is the effect of brand promotion.

Underestimating the position of a product (service) in the product market can lead to consequences that will affect the position of the organization, so it is necessary to carry out timely monitoring of the media, intermediaries, target audience to determine the current economic situation and objective prices for the product. This stage involves the calculation of the real and potential market capacities, taking into account all the factors influencing them.

Analysis internal environment(grade costs) is made to obtain a complete assessment of the organization's market business, its true economic position in the market of goods and services, taking into account the totality of organizational, informational, personnel components. Also, do not forget that when the global economy is serviced, the success of the enterprise will be ensured by the effectively used service potential. To do this, you should conduct a cost estimate that allows you to determine the maximum real commercial success using the average price of competing products, this price will be the basis for negotiations with the buyer.

The development of a strategic plan is used to test bold business ideas as a tool for predicting business performance in the market. Having determined the size of the final price, you can begin to implement pricing strategies.

Cream skimming strategy which involves entering the market with a new unique product and the maximum price that consumers are willing to pay. Planning and management decisions on the implementation of the strategy are made when the high potential demand (hidden) for the “novelty”, the low level of competition, the product has a consumer value of super quality, are precisely determined. However, after saturating the initial demand for a “novelty” in a fairly narrow segment of the market, the organization, in order to expand its coverage and increase sales volumes, proceeds to implement the “penetration policy” strategy. The price of the "novelty" is set low enough to gain a larger share of the market, a strategy that an organization with a strong market position can afford.

Price Leader Strategy is chosen in accordance with the price offered by the main competitor of the market, such a strategy is fruitfully used by organizations that do not claim a large market share. They follow the industry leader and carry out corporate activities, the so-called followers of the leader will never set lower prices, otherwise a “price war” may begin, which will determine the competitor leader and organizations forced out of the market.

Prestige Price Strategy typical for a network of boutique stores aimed at high-income buyers, for whom high prices are available, suggesting the quality characteristics of the purchased goods, service and comfort of service.

Organizations of large and medium-sized businesses are focused not on one, but on several target market segments, however, this orientation requires taking into account the tastes and needs of various buyers who have different level income.

An essential addition to the practice of pricing is its stimulation, which is based on the use of various kinds of discounts and offsets. With all the variety of the system of discounts for market participants, the following can be distinguished.

Discounts for large volume purchases involve measures to reduce the selling price, these are wholesale discounts that are formed taking into account the percentage reduction in the nominal price.

Seasonal discounts they imply a price reduction guaranteed to buyers if they purchase seasonal goods outside the period of the year for which these goods are intended.

Discounts for faster payment involve measures to reduce the standard selling price, which is guaranteed if payment is made before the deadline set by the parties.

Discounts for regular or prestigious customers include measures to reduce the standard selling price in cases where the organization's goods are purchased for a long time or carried out by prestigious customers for promotional purposes.

Tests- these are discounts from the current prices, which are taken into account as payment for the purchased consignments of goods in cases where the buyer takes an active part in advertising campaigns, or in order to stimulate market participants.

dumping prices(prices with minimal profitability) - they are used in the form of "artificial" discounts to increase corporate influence in the market, stimulate partners, etc. These prices are an expression of unfair competition and are prohibited by the laws of many countries.

Among the main directions for improving pricing, the expansion of the computerization of pricing work, and primarily through the creation of automated databases, comes to the fore. This allows you to significantly increase the amount of information used in the formation of pricing mechanisms, taking into account the total commercial and technical and economic conditions for the supply of goods and services.

Let's take a closer look at some of the methods.

Comparable market price method, it is based on comparative analysis the price of a transaction between related parties with the price of a transaction between independent counterparties. When applying this method, the following factors should be taken into account:

1) features of the supplied goods or services (number, size of lots, quality characteristics, belonging to famous brands and other similar parameters that can affect the price reduction (increase);

2) the distribution of the roles of the enterprises under consideration (proportionality of risk sharing and the amount of remuneration for the transaction);

3) the main terms of the transaction, for example, does the contract provide for obligations that normally entail an increase in price, such as deferred payment, the need to provide a bank guarantee, a third party guarantee or settlements through a letter of credit, etc.;

4) distinctive features of the market (possible impact on the price of market limitations, the presence of interchangeable goods on the market, the geographical location of the market, the status of the parties - wholesale or retail buyers (sellers), etc.);

5) the strategy of the enterprise, which includes interrelated organizations - parties to the relevant transaction (flexible pricing policy within the corporation in order to develop new markets).

Resale price method consists in determining the true price of the transaction based on the cost at which the good or service is ultimately sold by one of the related enterprises to an independent person, less an appropriate trading margin. In this case, the margin includes the costs associated with the resale of goods or services, the cost of storage and transportation of goods, as well as the costs of servicing external credits (loans) attracted in connection with the acquisition of this product (service).

When using the resale price method, it is difficult to determine the size of the margin, since the costs of one of the related organizations may be unreasonably high and not correspond to reasonable costs in normal market practice.

Cost method is used in cases where the application of the two methods listed above does not allow determining the actual price of the transaction. In this case, the transaction price is determined by adding up all the costs that the relevant enterprise has incurred or should have incurred in connection with the creation or acquisition of goods and services, and adding to them the rate of return (profitability) specially determined for these types of transactions. The main disadvantage of the cost method is its subjectivity, since the tax authorities, when using it, must take into account the direct and indirect costs incurred by the relevant company, and it is these authorities that have the right, at their own discretion, to decide whether to include certain costs in the number of expenses taken into account or not. The same can be said about the rate of return - there is no fixed rate, so the fiscal authorities have the right to independently determine its size in each individual case. Therefore, in practice, the considered method is usually used when determining the price of low value-added products. It is rather difficult, sometimes even impossible, to determine the real price of high-tech products using the cost method, since it does not allow taking into account the entire set of factors that affect pricing in this case.

If the previous methods do not allow determining the real price of the transaction, then income methods should be used. These methods are divided into the distributed profit method and the general rate of return method.

As part of distributed profit method not a specific transaction is analyzed, but the structure of relationships between counterparty enterprises, including the division of functions, risks, tangible assets, etc. between them. And based on the results of studying these relationships, the price is adjusted taking into account the role of each enterprise. The weak point of this method is its complete detachment from a specific transaction, which may eventually lead to incorrect adjustment of the transfer price.

General rate of return method involves determining the organization's profit from transactions with independent counterparties and adjusting the price of a transaction with an interdependent person such that the profit received from the transaction by this organization would be equal to the profit from transactions with third parties. The difficulty of applying this method lies in the fact that it is quite difficult to track the profit of the organization for each transaction, and it is almost impossible to establish profit on transactions only with independent counterparties.

comparable profit method, the method is based on the determination of the total profit of the relevant organization and its comparison with the profit received by a completely independent enterprise that is not part of any holdings or other similar entities.

The main reason why this method is not recommended is that since holding enterprises enter into transactions not only among themselves, but also between organizations not related to them, then in practice the use of the method can lead to a distorted idea of ​​the profit of the corresponding enterprise.

Article 40 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes the principles for determining the price for tax purposes, which consist in the fact that the accepted price of goods (works, services) indicated by the parties to the transaction must correspond to the level of market prices.

By controlling the completeness of the calculation of taxes, the tax authorities can check the correctness of the application of prices in the following cases:

1) transactions between related parties;

2) transactions on commodity exchange (barter) operations;

3) transactions on foreign trade operations;

4) if the transaction price deviates by more than 20% upwards (downwards) from the level of prices applied by the organization for identical (homogeneous) goods (works, services) within a short period of time.

These deviations are determined by the formula:

(Market Price - Transaction Price) / Market Price × 100%.

This does not consider cases where the price reduction is caused by factors such as:

1) seasonal fluctuations in consumer demand for goods;

2) loss of consumer properties and product quality;

3) the expiration of the product's shelf life or approaching the expiration date;

4) marketing policy, such as promotion to markets of new products that have no analogues, promotion of products to new markets;

5) sale of prototypes (samples) of goods as an introduction to consumers.

In order to determine the market price for products in a particular transaction, it is necessary to take into account only transactions concluded between independent persons (not relatives or co-owners of the enterprise) or where the interdependence of these persons does not affect the outcome of the transaction.

Determining the market price for services is quite problematic, since the methods for determining identity, established by paragraph 6 of Art. 40 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, apply only to goods.

The remuneration of an attorney under an agency agreement may be established:

1) in a fixed amount, specified in the contract and not dependent on the price of the transaction made by the intermediary;

2) in the amount of the difference between the price set by the principal and the more favorable (lower) price of the purchased goods;

3) as a percentage of the transaction price.

The weighted average price applied for identical (homogeneous) goods for tax purposes is determined by the formula:

Weighted average price = B 1 × R 1 + V 2 × R 2 +… + V n × R n ,

Where P 1 , P 2 ,… R n - prices at which a batch of identical (homogeneous) goods was sold for a short period of time (for example, a quarter);

IN 1 , IN 2 ,… IN n is the ratio (weight) of goods sold at the corresponding prices. Weight refers to the ratio of the number of items sold at a certain price to the total number of items sold over a short period of time (such as a quarter).

An organization's pricing strategy must be effective, that is, it must be more than an abrupt response to changing market conditions. Any pricing decision should reflect:

1) fundamental pricing strategy;

2) market segmentation;

3) market elasticity;

4) the level of costs;

5) the potential of a competitor, since knowledge of its competitors allows the company to more likely predict their responses, which are taken into account when developing pricing strategies;

6) competence of the management of the organization.

1.3. The price system and the signs underlying it

There are three main factors that affect the price: demand, costs and competition. They can be called the "magic triangle" of pricing. In addition, other factors influence the price, such as the type and properties of the goods, the participants in the distribution channel, government regulation.

Demand- the basic concept of a market economy. Demand is the intention of buyers to purchase a product or service backed by monetary opportunity. The magnitude of demand means the amount of goods that buyers want and (most importantly) can purchase at this price and at this time. Demand directly depends on the price, consumer income, prices for competitors' goods, etc. Demand is different, for example:

– individual demand refers to one person

– market demand characterizes a certain market,

– aggregate demand characterizes all markets for this product.

The concepts of "quantity of demand" and "demand" have differences, for example, the magnitude of demand is the willingness to buy a certain amount of goods at a specific price, and demand is the functional dependence of the quantity demanded on the price (a set of demand quantities at all possible prices). If, when prices fall, buyers begin to buy more, then the quantity demanded increases accordingly, while the demand itself remains unchanged.

So, the higher the price, the lower the quantity demanded, and vice versa. In some cases, the so-called paradoxical demand- an increase in the quantity demanded with an increase in price. Demand is also characterized by elasticity, for example, if when the price of a product (service) increases (lowers), it is bought in the same quantities, demand is called inelastic, but if the price change directly depends on the magnitude of demand, then demand will be elastic.

In practice, the demand for basic necessities will be inelastic, the demand for other goods is much more elastic. Therefore, the main point in choosing a pricing strategy is the identified demand for goods.

Depending on the state of demand, marketing can be:

1) conversion, which helps to overcome negative demand;

2) stimulating, which is aimed at filling the missing (insufficient) demand;

3) developing, which reveals the hidden demand for products;

4) remarketing, when marketing aims to revive falling demand;

5) synchromarketing, in which marketing stabilizes irregular, fluctuating demand;

6) supporting, which maintains the level of demand, which is declining;

7) demarketing, which slows down the rush demand.

Costs is the cost various kinds economic resources(such as raw materials, materials, labor, fixed assets, services, financial resources) in the production process (circulation of products, goods), which are expressed in monetary terms. Total costs are made up of fixed and variable costs. Formally, costs can be calculated as the product of the price of the resources expended and their quantity.

Costs play a major role in developing a pricing strategy and determine the minimum price that an organization can charge for a product offered for sale. Often cost analysis (cost analysis) is carried out at the planning stage to determine the break-even point. In the period when production capacity remains unchanged, there are the following types of costs.

fixed costs(overhead costs, FC)- costs, the value of which does not depend on fluctuations in the volume of output. They are related to the very existence of the organization and therefore must be paid for even if the products are not produced.

variable costs( VC), the value of which depends on the volume of output, these are the costs of raw materials and basic wages.

General costs (TS) - consist of the sum of fixed and variable costs at a certain volume of production:

TC=FC+VC

Average fixed costs (A.F.C.) are fixed costs per unit of output.

AFC=FC/Q,

Where Q- the number of units produced.

Average variable costs (AVC) are variable costs per unit of output.

AVC=VC/Q.

Average total cost (ATS) is the total cost per unit of output.

ATS = TS / Q or ATC = AFC + AVC

With an increase in output, the cost per unit of output decreases until a certain volume of production is reached, but if further increase in production, then there will be additional costs caused by overloading equipment and other costs, while average costs will increase.

marginal cost (MS) - these are additional, or additional, costs associated with the production of one more unit of output:

MS = ∆TC/ ∆Q,

Where ΔTS- change in total production costs;

∆Q– change in production volumes.

Profitable enterprises in a market economy strive not to succumb to the elements of the market and pursue their own pricing policy, that is, to form favorable prices both for themselves and for the consumer.

Basic market principles:

1) the price of the goods must be higher than its cost;

2) the price must be formed on socially justified market conditions;

3) the price should include the maximum possible profit.

The profitability of the organization's activities is characterized by an increase in the volume of products sold in physical terms, an increase in the mass of profits and the intensity of profits per unit of time. The listed indicators are estimated depending on changes in the price and volume of sales of products.

Organization cost analysis- This is an assessment of the relative dynamics of the shares of various types of costs in the overall cost structure of the organization, with its help you can find out the true reason for the change in the profitability of the organization. When summarizing data on resources spent during production (planned and actual), it should be taken into account that, in addition to data on costs in value terms, data on costs per cost unit of costs are used to evaluate efficiency, but in this case it is necessary to determine what value of such indicator is considered acceptable. The main means of increasing profits (reducing losses) and ensuring a stable position of the organization in the market is to minimize production costs. A stable price for the products sold leads to a reduction in unit costs and an increase in profits. The market price of a product whose quantity increases indefinitely tends to converge with the cost of production and cannot long remain much above or below the level of the cost of production.

Production becomes especially profitable for entrepreneurs if the price rises above production costs in a certain period of time, this allows the consolidation of enterprises that give significant profits, as well as attracting new enterprises to a profitable industry. Therefore, by virtue of the law of supply and demand, if the quantity of products delivered to the market increases, then this gives an impetus to lower prices, but if during a certain period the market price for products becomes lower than production costs, then it becomes unprofitable to continue the production of such products, due to this the supply of goods on the market is reduced, and this, by virtue of the law of supply and demand, leads to an increase in the market price. Prices can be set below retail with a reduction in the amount of overhead costs, if distributed over more types of production at low cost, the advantage of having a special supply contract or a price fixing agreement based on the method always guarantees a profit.

Each of these conditions may mean that the internal market leads to the establishment of contract prices or prices depending on the cost of production.

It is impossible to choose a single pricing option that would ideally suit all organizations, therefore, three possible options are used to set the price of products based on production costs:

1) income on capital;

2) with a focus on demand;

3) by the level of current prices.

The method of setting prices for products based on production costs (markup method) is widely used in business practice and reflects a typical focus on production and, to a lesser extent, on market demand, there are two varieties of this method:

1) using full production costs;

2) using the marginal cost of production.

At full cost method to the total amount of costs, add the amount that corresponds to the rate of return equal to the desired income from turnover. If the price is calculated using the full cost method, then it is based on the division of production costs into fixed and variable, in which:

1) conditions are created for obtaining normal profit and covering all costs;

2) the organization has full information about its own costs and less about the demand for its product in the market, therefore, when making a pricing decision, it relies on costing;

3) price competition is minimized, for example, if all organizations use this method in pricing, then the prices for this type of product are approximately the same;

4) product prices are the most reasonable and fair, as the interests of producers and consumers are observed.

The formula for determining the price by this method is:

P = ATS × (1 + P P / 100),

Where R- the price of the product;

ATS– average total costs;

R

Example

If the total cost of producing a unit of output is 1200 rubles, the organization has determined its needs for the mass of profit (surcharge) at the level of 20%, then the price will be:

P \u003d 1200 × (1 + 0.20) \u003d 1440 rubles.

At marginal cost method to the variable costs per unit of the manufactured product, an amount is added to cover the costs and provide the required rate of return:

P = MS + MS × R P / 100,

Where: R- the price of the product;

MS- marginal cost of production;

R n is the profitability of products, %.

With this method, full reimbursement of fixed costs and maximum profit is ensured, this is the main advantage of this method, and its use is also associated with the division of costs into fixed and variable. When choosing the level of profitability, the rate of return on invested capital is used.

Another method of pricing income method on capital, based on the fact that the total cost per unit of output is added to the percentage of invested capital. Using this method, the organization, based on production costs, receives a planned return on capital. This method takes into account the payment of financial resources that are needed for the production and sale of this type of product. This is its advantage, and the disadvantage is that when inflation is high, interest rates are uncertain, which complicates the use of this method.

Another method is based on the reaction of buyers and consumer evaluation, it is called demand-driven pricing method. This is an unusual method of pricing, as an organization usually sets prices based on the cost of production, rather than on consumer perception of the product. At the same time, the manufacturer relies on the fact that the consumer determines the ratio between the value of the product and its price, and also compares it with similar products of competitors. The method can be successfully applied when the manufacturer knows the needs of potential buyers and therefore draws attention to certain qualities of their products, realistically assessing the capabilities of competitors. However, one thing to remember about pricing in the market is that it will be practically impossible to sell products at a high price if they were previously sold in the market at a lower price, but a certain benchmark in the market can be obtained by applying such methods. Here is the calculation of the new price for products, which is carried out on the basis of a clause in the contract.

Example

In the contract, the selling price of the product is 1000 rubles, the greatest influence on the costs of production is exerted by:

wage – 30 %;

raw material cost – 20 %;

electricity cost – 20 %.

The contractual clause on price change in this case is presented as follows:

D 0 = P D / 100 % × (30% × W P / W d + 20% × C P / WITH d + 20% × E P / E d ),

where 3 is wages, C is the cost of raw materials, E is the cost of electricity, e - moment of signing the contract, P - moment of delivery.

To execute the pricing strategy on the market, the manufacturing organization collects and carefully studies information in the following main areas:

1) product market (type of competition);

2) the branch of industry in which the organization operates;

3) competing industries;

4) government activities.

To take a stable position in the market, you need to clearly understand which of the competitors poses a real threat now, and who can strike tomorrow. Know what policies they have and what to expect from them. Competition- this is a struggle, the forms of which at a certain moment can be called legal or illegal. Business is based on competition and there are tough methods of fighting for a place in the market.

Examples of successful business are usually unknown, and standard solutions are unacceptable in most cases, so in order to create good business, you need to proceed from the fact that there is no ready-made advice, have a non-standard approach and your own view of the situation. The main task of a successful business is to see some new opportunity for making money. Starting an activity, you need to do everything possible so that it survives in market conditions, and this requires some effort and luck. The level of competitors in the markets is quite large, so it is necessary to have some experience in the market to eliminate unnecessary competitors. There are several methods by which you can divide competitors into different groups. Therefore, having collected and processed information on prices, the organization needs to:

1) study the products of the market in which the organization is going to sell its products;

2) to study the degree of compliance of competitors' products with consumer requirements, parameters are evaluated, such as: price, appearance, reliability, functionality;

3) study the reaction of competitors to the introduction of new products to the market, changes in product prices, changes in sales methods, active promotional products, improvement services;

4) to form the price of products, taking into account the decision of the government on economic issues.

The market environment is formed by a large number of economic, political and cultural factors, of which, in turn, there are four main market models pure competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, pure monopoly. From the point of view of pricing, the main distinguishing feature of such markets will be the ability of the organization to influence the setting of prices for manufactured products. Therefore, monopolists have the greatest influence, and the smallest - in conditions of pure competition. The price in the market can be controlled by an individual organization, a group of organizations, the state and the market.

Pure competition market consists of sellers and buyers of the same products, and the buyer and seller cannot exert due influence on the level of current market prices for the products sold. The peculiarity of the market is that if the seller asks too high a price for the product, then the buyer can purchase the required amount of similar products in another market for a lower price.

As long as the market remains a market of pure competition, the role of marketing research in this market is minimal, sellers will not develop activities in product development, price policy, advertising, sales promotion, since in conditions of pure competition none of the organizations plays a significant role in market.

The price level in the market is formed only under the influence of supply and demand, therefore, in the conditions of fierce competition, with the emergence of a huge market of cheap labor (China, India and other countries), promoted products are the only chance to increase competitiveness in such a market. The image of the seller is important here - an attractive image built by the person himself, and as for prices, the adjusted estimated price of the product can even be recognized if the result obtained corresponds to the most likely price at which the product can be sold on the open market in a competitive environment.

Therefore, in conditions of pure competition, the demand for the products of an individual organization is very flexible.

A type of industry market in which there are a large number of organizations selling mixed products and exercising price control over the price of the goods they produce is called monopolistic competition. In the market under monopolistic competition, the market shares of organizations range from 1 to 10% of total sales, which is much more than in a market of pure competition (up to 1%). Rare products give a certain degree of monopoly power over price to each seller, for example, the price of prestigious products is always set higher than the price of the same products of a less famous brand.

The main advantage of monopolistic competition is that it is easy to start a new organization in a certain industry or leave this market, because entry into it is not hindered by certain barriers that are placed on the way. new organization monopoly and oligopoly. The main disadvantage is that new organizations have difficulty in marketing their new products to buyers.

Let us give an example of such markets: the market for women's, men's or children's clothing, fur, jewelry, shoes, furniture, soft drinks, books, as well as markets for various services - hairdressers, dry cleaners, laundries, etc.

A market in which there are certain products of several large organizations that control a significant part of production and sales and compete with each other is called oligopoly. Products sold by oligopolistic organizations can be mixed (cars, computers) or standardized (steel, aluminum). Oligopolistic organizations are inherent in the concept of collective dominance, but in any case, such an organization also has monopoly power, therefore it affects the price of products sold and keeps it at a level that exceeds the marginal cost of production.

In order to influence the supply and the price of a product, price control is exercised, which is determined by the market share of individual sellers (oligopolistic markets are dominated by two to ten organizations, which account for more than half of total sales of products).

Because of this, organizations become dependent on each other when each of them realizes that a change in price (output volume) will cause a response from its competitors, and therefore must reckon with it. Oligopolies are protected by barriers to market entry, and the factor that can intensify competition in an oligopoly is international competition in the domestic market. With the openness of the domestic market, the country's economy becomes open, which of course changes the nature of competition in the market.

If interactions are conducted in an atmosphere of cooperation rather than competition, then organizations can charge prices well above marginal cost and earn large profits.

Organizations sometimes engage in overt (secret) collusion, called a cartel, in order to maximize joint profits and co-ordinate their prices and outputs. Sometimes oligopolistic organizations begin to compete aggressively with each other, unleashing "price wars", and from this losing a significant share of profits. Here are examples of the oligopoly that prevails in the modern industry market: the automotive industry, the production of steel, aluminum, petrochemicals, electrical equipment, computers.

The type of industry market in which there is a single seller of a product that has no analogues is called pure monopoly. Prices affect different conditions compared transactions and the economic conditions of the market in which they are made, so a pure monopoly is quite rare, it is usually present in local markets, and not in national (world) markets. So, if in a small town there can be only one single dentist, then he, by virtue of this, becomes a monopolist. An organization does not have to be a pure monopoly in order to have monopoly power, to be the only seller in the market. An organization with monopoly power can set the price of its products at its own discretion, and not accept the price as a given, which is characteristic of a perfectly competitive market. As a result, the monopolist, by setting prices above competitive prices, receives additional (monopolistic) profit, thereby benefiting from price control. The market of monopolists is characterized by the fact that the supply of products is often much less than in conditions of perfect competition, and the price is much higher than the competitive one. This is disadvantageous to society, since fewer consumers than under perfect competition buy the monopolist's product.

In the market of pure monopoly, the satisfaction of demand is more efficient in the absence of competition due to the decrease in production costs per unit of goods as the volume of production increases, since the products produced by the subjects of pure monopoly cannot be replaced by other products. As a rule, market demand for products produced by pure monopoly entities does not always depend on changes in the price of these products (for example, in the electric power industry). Therefore, the larger the scale of an enterprise in pure monopoly industries, the more efficient it is.

The activity of the pure monopoly market assumes that products that are produced by one enterprise at low production costs are treated as if they were produced not by one, but by several enterprises. This means that prices in pure monopoly markets are not controlled by antimonopoly laws, and the state only regulates monopoly prices.

As a rule, a monopoly organization receives high profits, so other organizations have a desire to enter this industry in order to open their production there.

The use of leading technologies in production reduces individual costs for manufactured products, makes them cheaper by increasing labor productivity. Thanks to such actions, monopolists receive the maximum (monopoly) profit in the form of the difference between social and individual costs of production. A monopoly organization seeks to monopoly apply low individual costs and maintain this position for as long as possible by placing barriers to entry to the industry for new organizations, such as:

1) exclusive rights received from the government or local authorities, which provide the organization with the status of the sole seller;

3) the possibility of using sources of production resources (raw materials).

Monopoly barriers prevent, limit or eliminate competition in the market. Therefore, the Federal Law of July 26, 2006 No. 135-FZ "On Protection of Competition" prohibits monopolistic activity in two forms:

1) abuse of a dominant market position (art. 10);

2) a ban on agreements restricting competition or concerted actions of economic entities (Article 11).

1.4. State regulation of prices

Of particular importance for pricing is state regulation of pricing, for example, individual products (baby food, medical products, products of own production sold at enterprises Catering at educational institutions and others, according to which, in accordance with Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of 07.03.1995 No. 239 “On measures to streamline state regulation of prices (tariffs)”, local authorities have the right to regulate the size of the trade margin). State authorities, local governments and pricing authorities regulate prices in the markets with the help of pricing policy, which allows maintaining a sufficiently high and stable level of budget expenditures and corresponds to the goal of creating the National Wealth Fund, which ensures the stability of budgetary policy and allows maintaining the Reserve Fund in case of sharp price fluctuations, and in case of favorable conditions and accumulate funds in the National Welfare Fund. The state influences the pricing process by administrative measures, such as “freezing” free market prices, fixing monopoly prices, setting a price ceiling, banning dumping, and banning low-quality price advertising.

The influence of the state on pricing can be exercised with the help of price fixing- maintaining prices for products, securities at a certain given fixed level. Fixing is possible with:

1) list prices- a collection of prices and tariffs for products approved by ministries, departments, state pricing bodies. In conditions of strict total state control over the price level, the number of prices set using price lists can be 100% and insignificant in cases of market pricing. With the help of price lists, the prices of monopoly enterprises (electricity, gas, oil, utilities, transport) are mainly regulated. Prices for these products are fixed by the state, which allows us to stabilize the economic situation for a short period and determine the degree of price stability in all other areas. If there is no agreement to maintain a minimum price, then the retailer may discount the list price in order to attract customers;

2) fixing prices of monopoly organizations- fixing occurs when the state needs to fix the prices of enterprises that occupy a dominant position in the market in order to somehow influence competition and the price level in the market. However, these actions ultimately limit the price freedom of all other market participants. For information, according to the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", an organization occupies a dominant (monopolistic) position if its market share is more than 50%;

3) price freeze- this process of conditionally constant prices, most often tied to prices of a certain period, year. This approach is used in the event of a crisis in the economy and is carried out solely for the purpose of stabilizing the situation. Price freezes can only be applied in the short term.

There is another method like price regulation by setting marginal price levels of the upper (lower) price limit. Prices for products fixed in special price lists are set without specifying a validity period (at least for five years). Price regulation occurs through the process of direct (indirect) influence on price levels and ratios or other pricing policies. Price regulation can be direct (directive) if the state sets fixed prices for products and exercises the right to change these prices in the future. Price regulation directly depends on the value of production costs, accounting for the required amount of savings, reduction (liquidation) of subsidies.

Price regulation is an instrument of pricing policy, which is associated with the determination of rational intra-industry and inter-industry price ratios. The state needs to support:

1) the correct price ratios within the parametric series of products of the same name, these ratios are maintained using a system of appropriate coefficients;

2) reasonable price ratios for interchangeable products.

Sometimes price regulation is carried out by indirect methods, for example, through the administrative establishment of profitability standards included in prices, or various kinds of markups and discounts.

Price liberalization- this is the right to freely set prices by the manufacturer (intermediary), which makes it possible to withdraw these prices from the sphere of administrative regulation.

The influence of the state on the pricing process consists in legislative regulation of the activities of market participants, restriction of unfair competition and the introduction of a number of prohibitions, such as:

1) dumping ban- in this case, it is impossible to sell products below cost in order to eliminate competitors. This practice is applicable if there is a leader in the market that can drive its competitors out of the market or prevent them from entering the market. Such a ban is applicable in international trade in order to prevent aggressive importers of products from entering the market;

2) ban on unfair price advertising applicable when advertising is structured in such a way that creates the illusion of price reductions in consumers in order to attract their attention to the product;

3) ban on vertical price fixing applicable in the case when the manufacturer begins to dictate their prices to intermediaries (wholesale and retail trade);

4) a ban on horizontal price fixing applicable in the event that an agreement between several manufacturers to maintain product prices at a certain level comes into force, if the aggregate market share of these producers occupies a dominant position in the market; such a restriction applies in an oligopolistic market. This prohibition is easy to ignore if oligopolistic enterprises agree not on a single price, but on a single method of calculating costs when determining the price of final products.

State regulation of prices- this is an attempt by the state with the help of legislative, administrative and budgetary and financial influences to influence the market (prices) in such a way as to contribute to the stable development of the economy as a whole. For example, at the subject level Russian Federation pricing regulation issues are dealt with by the legislative and executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Federation, local self-government bodies; in the executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Federation there are special divisions for the regulation of price policy - the departments (committees) for price policy, under the government - the department for price and tax policy.

At present, state influence on the level and structure of prices (both free and regulated), which are mainly set by commodity producers, is carried out through methodological unity in their establishment and application.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees state support for competition and freedom of economic activity. The basic one is the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”, which states that:

1) dominant position- an exclusive position in the market, which makes it possible to exert a decisive influence on the general conditions for the circulation of goods (products, services) in the relevant market or hinder access to the market for other economic entities;

2) monopoly high price- the price of a product (service) set by an entity that occupies a dominant position in the market in order to compensate for unreasonable costs caused by the underutilization of production capacity, or to obtain additional profit as a result of a decrease in the quality of the product;

3) exclusive low price- the price of a good (service) set by an entity that holds a dominant position in the commodity market as a buyer in order to obtain additional profit and compensate for unreasonable costs at the expense of the seller.

Market economy implies the freedom of prices, which are made up of the ratio of supply and demand. Despite the fact that free prices are not regulated by the state, even in the most liberal market system the state is not completely removed from the pricing process, especially in relation to the products of natural monopolies.

In judicial practice, disputes over regulated prices for electricity and heat energy, gas, as well as for transportation and work on railway transport are most common. When establishing violations of the antimonopoly legislation, commercial organizations (their officials), individual entrepreneurs bear the responsibility provided by the legislation of the Russian Federation. The law spells out the organizational and legal framework for the protection of competition, such as the prevention and suppression of monopolistic activities.

Such activity is the abuse by an economic entity (group of persons) of its dominant position, agreements or concerted actions prohibited by antimonopoly legislation, as well as other actions (inaction) recognized in accordance with federal laws monopolistic activity (Article 4 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”).

Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" introduced a ban on the abuse of a dominant position by an economic entity, and the position of an economic entity (group of persons) in the market of a certain product is recognized as dominant if it makes it possible:

1) exert a decisive influence on the general conditions for the circulation of goods on the relevant commodity market;

2) remove other economic entities from this commodity market;

3) hinder access to this commodity market for other economic entities.

For example, an economic entity is considered dominant if its share on the market of a certain product exceeds 50% (part 1, article 5 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”). Only the fulfillment of this condition is not always decisive: when considering a case on violation of antimonopoly legislation or when exercising state control over economic concentration, it can be established that the position of an economic entity in the commodity market is not dominant.

The position of an economic entity cannot be recognized as dominant (with the exception of a financial organization), whose share on the market of a certain product does not exceed 35%, with the exception of those specified in parts 3, 6 of Art. 5 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition". If the market share is from 35 to 50%, the position will be considered dominant if it is established by the antimonopoly authority based on the unchanged or subject to minor changes in the share of the business entity in the commodity market, the relative size of shares in this market owned by competitors, the possibility of access to this commodity the market of new competitors or on the basis of other criteria characterizing the product market.

Abuse is expressed in the restriction or elimination of competition, otherwise - infringement of the interests of other persons (including individuals), the result of which is the actions (inaction) of a person occupying a dominant position, such as:

1) the establishment of a monopolistically high (low) price of goods. To be recognized as such, it must exceed:

- the price set by economic entities that are not included in the same group of persons with buyers or sellers of goods and do not occupy a dominant position in a comparable product market,

- the amount of expenses and profits necessary for the production and sale of such goods;

2) the withdrawal of goods from circulation, due to which its price has increased;

3) imposing on the buyer the terms of the contract that are unfavorable for him;

4) economically (technologically) unjustified reduction

(cessation) of the production of products that are in demand, if this production is profitable or such actions are not provided for by law;

5) economically (technologically) unjustified establishment of disparate prices (tariffs) for the same product.

For abuse of a dominant position in the commodity market, Art. 14.31 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for administrative responsibility:

1) fines are imposed on officials in the amount of 15,000 to 20,000 rubles;

2) “turnaround” fines are collected from legal entities in the amount of 1/100 to 15/100 of the amount of the offender’s proceeds from the sale of goods (work, services) on the market of which the offense was committed, but not more than 1/50 of the amount of the offender’s proceeds from the sale of all goods (works, services).

To calculate the amount of the fine, tax revenue is taken, determined according to the rules of Art. 248, 249 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. To administrative responsibility under Art. 14.31 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation is involved only if the actions that violate the antimonopoly law do not contain a criminally punishable act.

Criminal liability is provided for the restriction (prevention) or elimination of competition by establishing or maintaining monopolistically high or monopolistically low prices, dividing the market, restricting access to the market, eliminating other economic entities from it, establishing or maintaining uniform prices, if these acts caused a major damage - more than 1,000,000 rubles. (Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

The antimonopoly legislation introduced a ban not only on the abuse of a dominant position, but also on competition-restricting agreements (concerted actions) of economic entities. Moreover, the performance by economic entities of actions under an agreement does not apply to concerted actions (Part 2, Article 8 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”). An agreement is a written agreement contained in one or more documents, as well as an oral agreement (clause 18, article 4 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition"). The actions of economic entities in the commodity market are coordinated if they simultaneously satisfy two conditions specified in Part 1 of Art. 8 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition":

1) the result of such actions should meet the interests of each economic entity, this is possible only if it is known in advance to each entity;

2) the actions of each economic entity must be caused by the actions of other economic entities and not be the result of circumstances that equally affect all economic entities in the relevant commodity market.

Collateral effective work all departments of the organization can be reached with proper leadership, as well as with the help of control over the work and effective system encouragement, this concept is called coordination of economic activity. The actions of a self-regulatory organization to establish for its members the conditions for access to the commodity market (exit from the commodity market) are not considered as coordination of economic activity.

This concept refers to the innovations of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition".

Criminal encroachment on competition infringes not only the interests of competing organizations, but also the interests of consumers, as it reduces (disappears) the possibility of choice, which can only exist if producers of goods, works or services are competitive. After all, public relations that ensure the interests of consumers are considered basic along with public relations that ensure the interests of competing organizations.

Paragraph 17 of Art. 4 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" establishes signs of restriction of competition:

1) reduction in the number of organizations in the market that are not included in one group;

2) an increase (decrease) in the price of products that is not associated with changes in other general conditions for the circulation of products on the market;

3) refusal of organizations from one group of independent actions in the market;

4) determination of the general conditions for the circulation of products on the market by agreement between organizations that are not part of the same group;

5) other conditions that create the opportunity to unilaterally influence the general conditions for the circulation of products on the market.

Commercial organizations do not have the right to coordinate the economic activities of economic entities if the result of such actions will or may be the consequences specified in Part 1 of Art. 11 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition".

For example, the Krasnoyarsk Antimonopoly Department accused a branch of UniMilk LLC, the main dairy producer in Russia, which was found to have concluded distribution agreements for the supply of dairy products containing conditions that contradict antitrust laws, for example, that distributors must agree on prices with the supplier for which dairy products will be sold to other market operators. Moreover, not only UniMilk LLC, but also distributors were recognized as violating the requirements of the antimonopoly law. The inspection bodies issued an order to exclude the discovered contradictions from the distribution agreements. Together with the issuance of instructions, commercial organizations and their officials, including individual entrepreneurs, may be held liable under the legislation of the Russian Federation (part 1, article 37 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition"), and bringing to responsibility does not relieve these persons from the obligation comply with the decisions and instructions of the antimonopoly body.

An economic entity that restricts competition by an agreement or the implementation of concerted actions that restrict competition may be held administratively liable under Art. 14.32 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, in the form of a fine in the amount of:

1) from 17,000 to 20,000 rubles. (for officials);

2) from 1/100 to 15/100 of the amount of the offender's proceeds from the sale of goods (work, services) on the market of which the offense was committed (for legal entities).

In respect of officials, the fine may be replaced by disqualification for up to three years. According to part 2 of Art. 32.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, the decision on disqualification is enforced by terminating the agreement (contract) with the disqualified person to carry out activities to manage the legal entity.

However, administrative liability can be avoided if the enterprise:

1) refuses to participate or further participate in the agreement, from the implementation or further implementation of agreed actions that restrict competition and are unacceptable under the antimonopoly legislation of the Russian Federation;

2) voluntarily notify the federal antimonopoly body, its territorial body of the violation of the requirements of Art. 11 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition";

3) provide the available data (information) in order to establish the fact of the conclusion of an agreement or concerted actions, which are vetoed.

This possibility is spelled out in a note to Art. 14.32 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, and all three conditions must be met.

The executive bodies of state power of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation were entitled for a certain period, until April 31, 2008, to conclude agreements with economic entities - producers of food products and organizations engaged in trade in these products, aimed at reducing and maintaining prices for certain types of socially significant food products. essentials. Such an opportunity was provided by the Government of the Russian Federation (Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated November 10, 2007 No. 769 “On agreements between the executive bodies of state power of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and business entities on reducing and maintaining prices for certain types of socially significant food products of prime necessity”) on the basis of Art. 16 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition". This article prohibits agreements between federal executive bodies, state authorities of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments and economic entities, if such agreements lead or may lead to the prevention, restriction, elimination of competition, to an increase, decrease or maintenance of prices (tariffs). Most importantly, there is an exception to this requirement: it is possible to negotiate if such agreements are provided for by federal laws or regulatory legal acts of the President of the Russian Federation, regulatory legal acts of the Government of the Russian Federation. Thus, a regulatory legal act of the Government of the Russian Federation appeared, aimed at ensuring compliance with antimonopoly legislation when concluding agreements. These agreements shall not contain provisions that result or may result in:

End of introductory segment.