.

1.  Definition of Price Mix -
Price Mix is another important element ofmarketing mix. It is considered as very
critical element. Price can be defined as the economic value of productnormally
expressed in form of money.
Price Mix is the value of the product determined by the producers. Price mix
includes the decisions as to:Price level to be adopted;discountto beoffered; and,
terms of credit to be allowed to customers.
The price of product should be set in such a way that buyers can pay
and company can earn adequate profits. In case of price-sensitive
customers on one hand and the prestige-sensitive customers on the
other hand, the pricing decisions become vital in marketing.
 Pricing decisions involves -
1. Determining product development costs
2. Determining manufacturing (variable and fixed) costs the product
3.Studying pricing policies and strategies of the close competitors
4. Formulating appropriate pricing policies for the products
5. Deciding on level or margin of profits
6. Deciding on variable v/s fixed pricing, price discrimination, discounts,
allowances, and seasonal effect

2. 7. Identifying and analysing of various relevant factors influencing pricing
decisions
8. Pricing policies/strategies in different stages of product life cycle
9. Deciding on price-setting methods
10. Pricing decisions for direct and indirect distribution of products
Too many businesses set their pricing putting much thought into it. This is a
mistake causing them to leave money on the table from the beginning. The good
news is that taking time to get your product pricing right can act as powerful
growth lever if youoptimize your pricing strategy so thatmore people are paying
a higher amount, you ii end up with significantly more revenue than a business
who treats pricing more passively. This sounds obvious but it’s rare for business
to put much effort into finding the best pricing strategy pricing is a major factor
in determining success of the brand .
At the end of the fiscal year 2015, estimated revenues of Reliance Jio were 13
million rupees compared to the earlier year of 5.8 million rupees. The company
has targeted people with smartphones who desire good services and high internet
speed as its target customers. Reliance Jio has taken several steps towards
transforming India so that it becomes a techno-savvy and digital nation. It has
adopted a reasonable pricing policy and has announced reasonable rates for all its
products. These rates will be applicable from the beginning of the fiscal year
2016-17 as it has announced free services for every Jio-Sim since its launch till
31st March 2016.
To promote the idea of Digital India and, to take the internet services to every
part of the nation, Reliance Jio provided free services to its users. The company
gave SIMs free of cost to Individuals against their phone number and Aadhaar

3. card number. Reliance Jio targeted users with smartphones who want good
services and high-speed internet at a low cost . It was able to sell approximately
14 lakh SIM cards to the individuals within the first few days of the launch. After
the roll-out of free services, Reliance Jio adopted a flexible pricing strategy and
announced a reasonable rate for all its products and services. Jio kept Voice
calling services free for its users who mainly had to pay for the data usage.
Reliance Jio Phones were also reasonably priced with a security deposit of Rs.
1500 and, user can withdraw the amount following the usage of three years.
Following this, Reliance Jio also started offering LYF devices at prices as low as
Rs. 2999 and additionally offered JioFi at an affordable price of Rs 1999.
 What are pricing strategies -
Pricing strategies refer to the processes and methodologies businesses use to set
prices for their products and services. If pricing is how much you charge for your
products, then product pricing strategy is how you determine what that amount
should be. It is the tool used to fix the price of particular product or service by
considering various factors like the consumption of resources , market conditions
the ability of customers , demand and supply , need of the product like regular
item or occasional, etc. There are different pricing strategies to choose from but
some of the more common ones include:
 Value-based pricing
 Competitive pricing
 Price skimming
 Cost-plus pricing

4.  Penetration pricing
 Economy pricing
 Dynamic pricing
 Pricing strategy adopted by Jio Reliance
 Penetration pricing strategy
Penetration pricing is a marketing strategy used bybusinesses to attract customers
to a new product or service by offering a lower price during its initial offering.
The lower price helps a new product or service penetrate the market and attract
customers away from competitors. Market penetration pricing relies on the
strategy of using low prices initially to make a wide number of customers aware
of a new product.
This is the strategy in which the focus is on grabbing maximum market share.
Hence, the price of the product is set very low initially (at launch) so that it can
penetrate the market and attract buyers of all segments. Reliance Jio is a perfect
example for this strategy. The prices of services were zero at launch, eventually
they were set at a fraction of the existent competition’s prices. Consequently, Jio
has been able to grab a significant market share in spite of being a new entrant in
the industry.
Jio chose penetrating pricing strategy. It is the method of charging low price to
penetrate into the market. Reliance gave large importance to fixing price for the
Jio. This was done keeping in mind the competition.
 Competitive pricing strategy
Competitive pricing is the process of selecting strategic price points to best take
advantage of a productor service-based market relative to competition. This type
of pricing strategy is generally used once a price for a product or service has
reached a level of equilibrium.
Jio soon shifted to competitive pricing , putting an end to the bleeding of its
competitors .Competitive pricing is simply matching the price ofthe competition,
which would then minimise the loss and while being able to retain the existing
customers.