that aggressive action takes place in the other components of the marketing mix, such as promotion or product, rather than in the pricing component. OfficeMax, this pricing strategy should be avoided in terms of its major percentage of sales, business documents and disposable supplies.Price policies of different types should be considered. A flexible-price policy means offering the same product or service to different customers at different prices. Flexible-price policies often specify a range in which the actual price charged must fall. The advantage of flexible pricing is that OfficeMax company’s sales reps can make price adjustments, when considering the prices charged by competitors, the relationship with the customers, and the customer’s bargaining abilities. This type of pricing strategy is very important for big buyers such as business customers. But flexible pricing does have disadvantages. A customer who finds that others have paid lower prices for the same products becomes dissatisfied with the company. If buyers learn that negotiating can be in their interest, then they will increase the bargaining time. This can affect selling costs. Also, in some instances, some sale reps let price-cutting become a habit. This reduces the role of price as a competitive tool and leads to a lower price level and a thinner profit margin for the corporation. Sales representatives of OfficeMax must be trained in the fine art of using flexible pricing only when appropriate and when not cutting into profit margins at a deep rate.Pricing policies must be implemented over the product life cycle. This is why the price level decision must focus first on the market demand for any given product category offered by OfficeMax. One type of policy is known as a skimming price policy. This is a policy that tries to sell the top of a market or top of a demand curve at a high price before aiming at more price-sensitive customers. Skimming may maxi...
