With Hurricane Irma
hitting Florida,
there have been stories
about “price gouging”.
Amazon delivered cases of water
but had greatly increased
the delivery price.
7-11 sold cases of water
but priced the case
at the single bottle price
multiplied by the number of bottles.
I understand the reasons
behind both of these pricing strategies.
It costs more for Amazon
to deliver
into an evacuation zone.
7-11 wasn’t technically
increasing prices.
But customers don’t understand
or appreciate that.
They view it
as a business taking advantage
of a bad situation.
Months, years later,
they will remember this.
It will be brand damaging.
In the case of emergency,
consider keeping
ALL of your prices the same
or lower.
The hit to profitability
should be offset
by the preservation
of your brand equity.