Gender pricing: no go or great move? The case of Gillette
Danilo Zatta, PhD, MBA
Helping companies grow revenues and profits I TopLine, Pricing & Revenue Models Advisor
Dear Friends,
Call it pink tax, pinkflation or gender pricing: women pay higher prices than men - on average 30%. And often more for a series of products and services. But incomes of women are lower than the ones of male peers: is this unfair and a no go? Shall governments intervene? Or not? Let’s deep dive this with the case of Gillette and more below.
Always great to find pictures of readers with pricing books on social media as in this case. Thanks a lot for the great book review of Nadya V. posted here who writes:
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Gender pricing: no go or great move? The case of Gillette
High street stores are charging women up to twice as much as men for practically identical products, an investigation by The Times has found.
The cost of clothes, haircuts, beauty products and toys for women and girls is higher than equivalent items marketed at men and boys, according to an analysis of hundreds of products. The “sexist” prices can be found at many of Britain’s biggest retailers, including 特易购公司 , Boots UK and 亚马逊 . In one case Tesco charges double the price for ten disposable razors simply because they are pink. Also women's perfumes are often more expensive than men's fragrances, even if the production costs are similar and the amount of liquid contained is identical.
At Argos , identical children’s scooters are ￡5 more expensive in pink than in blue. Levi’s 501 jeans for women are on average 46 per cent more expensive than the men’s version.
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LinkedIn member Margarete Honisch was shocked when she noticed some razor price tags while doing her shopping: - 4 pieces with 3 blades for women: € 14.99 - 4 pieces with 3 blades for men: €6.99 So women pay 215% more for the same product compared to men.
?
If you do some real detective work, she indicates, you will see that here different suppliers were compared: Gillette for women and Wilkinson for men. Not quite a clean comparison, you might argue.
Okay, let's compare the Gillette razor blades for men on the right with those for women: - 14,99 € for 4 pieces makes for women: 3,75€/ piece - 13,99 € for 6 pieces makes for men: 2,33€/piece So even with the same brand, there is still a 60% mark-up for women.
Margarete argues that this is doubly unfair: women earn less on average than men and yet have to pay more for everyday products. This imbalance reinforces the financial disadvantage of women. She wonders if there should not be laws that forbid or punish this.
A scandal? Or an absolutely common and legitimate pricing approach that has been around in a similar form for ages. Is it less about discrimination and more about differentiation?
You can also simply state the fact that women seem to have a systematically higher willingness to pay for these products. Retailers who take advantage of this situation are quite right to do so.
They often adopt the manufacturers' non-binding price suggestions, which are then of course also correct with their recommendations. This approach has brought the players enormous additional profit in the past: an average margin per item that is a quarter higher and sales of women's perfume in France alone last year of just over one billion euros.
Did you ever face pink taxes?
Is gender pricing fair o unfair: what do you think?
Interested in learning more about how to succeed with pricing? You will find pricing insights in the book The 10 Rules of Highly Effective Pricing.
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You are most welcome to share your views, feedbacks and own pricing experiences. Thanks a lot for your interest and support!
Pricing Specialist | Pricing Strategist | Pricing Coach | Pricing Consultant | Owner at Uplifting Value | Uplifting Value mentors female-led businesses to value their work's worth and price accordingly
6 个月In Australia, some consumers and consumer advocates have answered this question (see article https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/big-w-under-fire-for-gift-sets-sexist-pricing/news-story/00063d672329e7e3bc9a04e33958b9d0) especially when scrutiny of the difference is so easy. Note that the retailer claims that this was a ‘pricing' error. The manufacturers may impose the pink tax, but consumers can eventually impose a 'PR' tax on them.
Strategy | People Leadership | Problem-Solving | Results Driving | Innovative | Curious | Adaptable
6 个月Intentional, willful price discrimination based solely on gender of purchaser is wrong. Full stop. As noted in comments though, unintentional price differences affecting different genders is potentially more murky. A lot of price discrimination's "morality" boils down to interpretations of "fairness". Many businesses routinely price discriminate on age or military service (e.g., movie theaters and restaurants having kids, seniors, and service personnel discounts). Society accepts these for a variety of reasons, and those same businesses leverage them to draw in the full price crowd. I suspect there maybe a historical construct related to the pink tax as well. Hypothetically a given product category was first marketed to men, say razors. Years if not decades of competition drove down costs/prices as the category matured. Then perhaps came the female equivalent. (Especially any categories impacted by the trend of greater representation of women in the workforce.) In theory when female versions of the products launched, they likely were produced in smaller quantities as a test. Without economy of scale, costs and prices were likely higher at intro and passed on to women. Demand and willingness to pay then made the gap "stick".
AI Founder & CEO @ FutureUP | Building the Future of Price Optimization | Top 50 Thought Leader in AI | Raised $9m in VC funding in AI
6 个月Thanks for sharing this, Danilo Zatta, PhD, MBA! Although this may seem strange, price “discrimination” is common and quite legit! Obviously, I am referring to differentiating prices based on statistical differences and characteristics of different audiences and not to any unethical form of discrimination. Willingness to pay goes hand in hand with eagerness to buy. When it comes to clothes, women are more eager to buy, they generate a higher demand than men, and this eventually leads to higher prices. Have you noticed what the ground floor of every department store usually contains? Women’s cosmetics and accessories. This is not by chance. Retailers know that women are their biggest buyer audience, so they adjust the floor structure based on that. So why not adjust prices accordingly? If you consider other categories, e.g., sports cars, it's the other way around. Women are less interested, but men are willing to pay and buy more. Different products have different best-fit audiences and prices. Quite normal and actually one of the things that any pricing person should analyze and try to find to improve business performance!
Please use women instead of ladies in future articles. Gen Z and Gen Y women abhor the term, and I (Gen X) don’t love it. Your articles will gain more traction outside boomer men. Sincerely, a pricing professional and woman. Thanks!