Prototype done. How to price my product when my goal is marketshare acquisition?

[jesseissorude]

I finished a prototype of my product.

Each unit costs $75.28 (in future runs I can get this to $50-60, but I'll use the proto costs for initial number crunching). But, what should my final retail price be?

Are there any rules-of-thumb I could use to find an appropriate markup? I have a good idea of what this could sell for, but I want to make sure that my retail price isn't going to make me lose my shirt.
Also--while I don't want to leave money on the table--I do want to price for a big initial injection of cash and to capture marketshare. Am I accidentally treating my price as a marketing strategy?

Range for my product should definitely be between $229-$349, and most of my sales will be through my site vs wholesale (70% to 30%). Since I've shared so little info on the product itself, I definitely am not expecting hard numbers... mostly ideas on hueristics for markup from COGS to retail price, and if I should position myself in the upper part of my range, or the lower part.

 

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[LeoistheSun]

Perhaps I missed something, but I would work on getting sales first. Pricing can be adjusted once your product is validated/fills a need.

Sell it at any level and increase from there until you find a drop off, id say. Heck, work on your messaging after it drops off to see if you can increase the sales again. Some times it about messaging. Are you communicating the right solution to these pain points...

Try selling it for 75$. Try at-least breaking even. If you can't do that... well I think you know what this means.

 

[Rawseed]

Rules of thumb are:

Minimum Retail = 4 x Cost ($75 x 4 = $300)
Minimum Wholesale = 2 x Cost ($75 x 2 = $150)

 

[jesseissorude]

Sorry for deserting the thread. Life happened and I had to fly to Montana to be with family suddenly.

Try selling it for 75$. Try at-least breaking even. If you can't do that... well I think you know what this means.

Always! I already have sales for it at 200, and two sales at 249.

Rules of thumb are:

Minimum Retail = 4 x Cost ($75 x 4 = $300)
Minimum Wholesale = 2 x Cost ($75 x 2 = $150)

Thank you! That puts me right in line with what I'm expecting then.
A store told me they'd want to try to sell it at 299-320 at first.

Also, I came up with an idea for a test.
I'll use ads to drive views to a presale page where I A/B/C/D test prices. I'll offer an email box to "get on the wait list" for the presale, no money down, but I'll email you at launch and you can pay the displayed price to get the product. The version of the page with the most email conversions is the price I'll start with!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

l use ads to drive views to a presale page where I A/B/C/D test prices. I'll offer an email box to "get on the wait list" for the presale, no money down, but I'll email you at launch and you can pay the displayed price to get the product. The version of the page with the most email conversions is the price I'll start with!

Always! I already have sales for it at 200, and two sales at 249.

Exciting stuff, let us know the results and what you decide!