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Use your knowledge about price-searching firms and two-part pricing to advise the company below. A company has a bar and is trying to decide on the cover charge (if any) and price for each drink. It has done a modest regression study in which it asked customers to classify themselves as light drinkers or heavy drinkers and to indicate the number of drinks they would typically consume during the evening. The estimate from the regression study is that a change in the price equal to $1 per drink causes light drinkers to change their consumption on average by 0.5 drinks per night. However, a change in the price of $1 causes heavy drinkers to change their consumption on average by 1.0 drinks per night. For both groups, a typical consumer will not consume anything once the price reaches $9 per drink. (They may instead go to another bar or not go to a bar at all.) Draw a demand curve for a typical light drinker and for a typical heavy drinker on the same diagram. Explain your diagram. Write equations for the curves in slope-intercept form.

If 300 people visit the bar on a typical evening, with 200 people being light drinkers and 100 people being heavy drinkers, draw an overall demand curve for all of the consumers combined. What is the slope and what is the intercept for this demand curve? Write an equation in slope-intercept form. If the marginal cost of making drinks (the alcohol, the bartender's labor, and the amortized cost of purchasing glasses and cleaning them repeatedly) is constant at $5 per drink, and if no cover charge is assessed, what is the best price to charge for drinks? How many drinks would be sold on a typical evening? What would your profits be? If you cut your price by $1 per drink and assess the maximum possible cover charge without causing a typical light drinker to refuse to enter the bar, would your profits improve? How high would the cover charge be? Calculate both the cover charge and your total profits. Would the new pricing increase profit?

Maybe the best price cut is not exactly $1. Write a profit equation. Profits equal to total revenue minus total cost. Total cost equals $5 times the number of drinks sold. Total revenue equals the price for drinks times the number of drinks sold, plus 300 people times the cover charge. The cover charge equals, for a light drinker, the triangle of consumer surplus above the price but below the demand curve for a light drinker. (The area of a triangle equals one half the base times the height.) You will take the derivative of the profit equation with respect to P or Q and set it equal to zero. For example, use the equation for the total demand curve and solve for Q in terms of P. Then in the profit equation substitute in an expression involving P in place of every Q that was in the original profit equation. Now you can take a derivative of profits with respect to P and set the derivative equal to zero. Eventually, you can solve for the exact best P, Q, and cover charge.

Review of the slope-intercept form: Y= a - bX; a = the intercept on the Y-axis and b = the absolute value of the slope (slope=(change in Y)/(change in X)) For a demand curve: P=a-b Q. The intercept on the vertical axis would indicate a price that is so high that the quantity demanded becomes zero. The slope is the ratio of a change in price divided by the change in quantity demanded; the extra credit problem gives you information to determine the slope for a light drinker and the slope for a heavy drinker.

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Yusra Anees
Yusra AneesLv10
28 Sep 2019

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Related questions

Suppose you are the proprietor of the only bar in Dallas. Since you are the only place in town for people to get drinks you exercise some market power and face a downward sloping demand curve for drinks given by P = 10 - (3/2)Q for each individual. Your total costs are given by TC = Q. There are 100 individuals with identical demand.

  1. Assuming that you must follow a uniform pricing strategy, what is the profit maximizing price and quantity and the associated profit? What is consumer surplus? Is the market efficient?
  2. If each person is charged their reservation price, what type of price discrimination is this? Assuming you can engage in this pricing scheme, what is your profit maximizing price and quantity and the associated profit? What is consumer surplus? Is the market efficient?
  3. Now assume that you decide to try a two-part tariff scheme instead, charging a price per drink and a cover charge at the door. What is the optimal two-part tariff charged to each person? How many drinks will be sold to each person? What is your total profit associated with this scheme? What is the total consumer surplus? Is the market efficient?
  4. Assume that your clientele is composed of two types: 50 customers are heavy drinkers with individual demand described by P_H = 15 - Q_H and 50 customers are light drinkers with individual demand described by P_L = 10 -3Q_L. Which group would you rather charge a higher price? Why?
  5. Assume that the market is split as described before. There is no constraint on the number of drinks you can sell. You can charge a different price to each group. What is the optimal price and corresponding quantity for each segment of the market? What is your total profit under this scheme? What type of price discrimination is this?
  6. Assume that the market is split as described before. The city of Dallas tells you that can only sell 325 drinks in total. You can charge a different price to each group. What is the optimal price and corresponding quantity for each segment of the market? What is your total profit under this scheme?

Case Study: Wine exports to China rise in value before the mid-1990s, the wine market in Asia was non-existent and many wine producers did not see potential in the Asian markets. But during the late 1990s and early 2000s, the markets started to change, and, almost overnight, wine became a symbol of wealth and class. The only problem was that very few producers were serving the market.

As more producers became aware of the new potential markets, they started to enter China, Thailand, Singapore, Korea, and Japan. China posed specific problems for producers and importers as distribution channels and marketing strategies were virtually non-existent because the market was too new.

The wine market maintained double-digit growth from 2005 - 2010, and it should grow faster than any other alcoholic beverage sector in the coming five years. With consumption rising at 10% - 15% per year it can be tempting for producers, whose traditional markets are stagnant, to consider China as a possible solution to their problems. Though there is little doubt that the market will continue to expand, the challenges are numerous:

1. A lack of transparency, counterfeit products, and unreliable information.

2. Dominance of the domestic giants.

3. Consumer and cultural challenges.

4. Distribution and logistics.

The rewards are great for any foreign winery that can crack the market but the challenges are also great. The first step a winery must take before they carve out their niche, is to understand the reasons behind Chinese consumers buying habits, and how consumers purchase wine in China.

WHY CHINESE CONSUMERS BUY WINE

The majority of wine purchases are made during the major holidays: Chinese New Year, Spring Festival, and the mid-Autumn Festival. Most of these purchases are destined as gifts for people.

This is an interesting insight because gift-giving in China is important to the concept of face.

The Chinese wine consumer is typically a market follower, not a leader. He needs to feel safe about his purchase and does not want to lose face€ by choosing the wrong wine or admit that his knowledge of wine is limited.

Chinese consumers buy wine to impress or gain face€ (the Chinese word guanxi or the concept of face is somewhat analogous to influence€ or opportunities€) within their social groups. Buying the right bottle of wine for a boss during the holidays could mean a promotion.

In contrast to America or Europe, wine is also used as a social lubricant in place of spirits or beer. European consumers will often pair wine with food but Chinese are more likely to use wine as a social lubricant at parties or events.

HOW CHINESE CONSUMERS BUY WINE

A survey conducted by the research company Wine Intelligence, which surveyed more than 1,000 Chinese upper middle-class drinkers of imported wine found that 75% of them said they often go online to look for wine information, and 62% said they frequently use social media as a source.

New wine consumers were increasingly reliant on the digital world to learn about wine, with an estimated 13 million Chinese adults frequently accessing information online.€ This is a significant percentage of consumers searching for information online.

Wineries that are looking to make an impact in China must create a strong digital strategy.

(Source: http://www.digitalintheround.com/chinese-wine-market-digital-strategy/)

Question 7a:
Which is the main macro-environment factor that provides an opportunity for wine products in China? Justify your answer.
(5 marks)

Question 7b:
Which is the macro-environment factor that leads Chinese consumers to purchase wine? Justify your answer.
(5 marks)

Case Study:

Wine Exports to China rise in value before the mid-1990s, the wine market in Asia was non-existent and many wine producers did not see potential in the Asian markets. But during the late 1990s and early 2000s, the markets started to change, and, almost overnight, wine became a symbol of wealth and class. The only problem was that very few producers were serving the market. As more producers became aware of the new potential markets, they started to enter China, Thailand, Singapore, Korea, and Japan. China posed specific problems for producers and importers as distribution channels and marketing strategies were virtually non-existent because the market was too new. The wine market maintained double-digit growth from 2005 - 2010, and it should grow faster than any other alcoholic beverage sector in the coming five years. With consumption rising at 10% - 15% per year it can be tempting for producers, whose traditional markets are stagnant, to consider China as a possible solution to their problems. Though there is little doubt that the market will continue to expand, the challenges are numerous: 1. A lack of transparency, counterfeit products, and unreliable information. 2. Dominance of the domestic giants. 3. Consumer and cultural challenges. 4. Distribution and logistics. The rewards are great for any foreign winery that can crack the market but the challenges are also great. The first step a winery must take before they carve out their niche, is to understand the reasons behind Chinese consumers buying habits, and how consumers purchase wine in China. Why do Chinese Consumers buy wine? The majority of wine purchases are made during the major holidays: Chinese New Year, Spring Festival, and the mid-Autumn Festival. Most of these purchases are destined as gifts for people. This is an interesting insight because gift-giving in China is important to the concept of Face.€ The Chinese wine consumer is typically a market follower, not a leader. He needs to feel safe about his purchase and does not want to lose face by choosing the wrong wine or admit that his knowledge of wine is limited. Chinese consumers buy wine to impress or gain Face€ (the Chinese word guanxi or the concept of face is somewhat analogous to influence€ or opportunities€) within their social groups. Buying the right bottle of wine for a boss during the holidays could mean a promotion. In contrast to America or Europe, wine is also used as a social lubricant in place of spirits or beer. European consumers will often pair wine with food but Chinese are more likely to use wine as a social lubricant at parties or events. How do Chinese consumers buy wine? A survey conducted by the research company Wine Intelligence, which surveyed more than 1,000 Chinese upper middle-class drinkers of imported wine found that 75% of them said they often go online to look for wine information, and 62% said they frequently use social media as a source.€ New wine consumers were increasingly reliant on the digital world to learn about wine, with an estimated 13 million Chinese adults frequently accessing information online. This is a significant percentage of consumers searching for information online. Wineries that are looking to make an impact in China must create a strong digital strategy. (Source: http://www.digitalintheround.com/chinese-wine-market-digital-strategy/)

Question 8:
If you were a foreign wine marketer, state four (4) macro-environment factors you would consider before entering the Chinese market.
(12 marks)

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