| Course | MRKT 3001 Marketing |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 6 |
| Paper type | Pricing memo |
| Length | About 630 words, 4 pages |
| Format | Memo, APA 7 citations |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | BS in Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MRKT 3001 Week 6
Memorandum
To: Owner, Second Paw Pet Supply
From: Marketing Analyst
Date: May 4, 2026
Re: Recommended price for the New Adopter Starter Bundle
Recommendation
Price the New Adopter Starter Bundle at $79. The bundle includes an in-person harness fitting, an adjustable harness, a 6-foot leash, a collar and tag, two bowls, a 4-pound bag of a starter food with a printed transition plan and a follow-up fitting at four weeks. At $79 it costs a new adopter about the same as buying the items separately, saves trips and time and includes help no other route offers. It earns the store $27 a bundle above its cost floor.
How Adopters Get the Same Items Today
Table 1
What the Same Bundle Costs a New Adopter by Route
| Route | Money | Trips | Time | Fitting and advice | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Second Paw bundle at $79 | $79 | 1, plus a 4-week follow-up | About 40 minutes | Yes, in person, twice | |
| Warehouse club, items separately | About $68 | 1 to 2 | About 60 minutes | None; large food bag only | |
| Online retailer, items separately | About $74 with shipping | 0 | About 30 minutes plus waiting days | None; sizing by chart | |
| Shelter basic kit plus missing items | About $35 kit plus about $40 elsewhere | 2 | About 75 minutes | Basic advice at adoption only | |
| Veterinary clinic front shelf | About $95 | 1 | About 30 minutes | Medical advice; no harness fitting | |
Illustrative prices checked on shelf tags, retailer websites and posted fee lists in Madison during the week of April 27, 2026; Second Paw is a composite store.
Reading the Table
The warehouse club is the cheapest route by about $11, but it sells food only in large bags, offers no fitting and takes more time. The online route is close in price but sizes the harness from a chart, and a harness that fits poorly is the most common reason new adopters come back to buy a second one. The shelter kit is cheap but incomplete. The veterinary clinic is the most expensive. At $79 the bundle sits in the middle on money and first on time, trips and help. Nagle and Müller (2018) argue that price should reflect the value a buyer receives compared with the next best alternative, and here the difference in value is the fitting, the follow-up and the saved trip.
The Cost Floor
The store's cost for the bundle is $52: $41 in merchandise at wholesale and about $11 in staff time for two fittings of about fifteen minutes each at the fitter's wage plus payroll costs. Any price below $52 loses money on every bundle. At $79, the contribution is $27 a bundle. If the store sells 400 bundles a year, roughly a third of the first-year adopters in its trade area, the bundle contributes about $10,800 before counting the later food and supply purchases those households make.
Who Will Not Pay $79
Price-first shoppers will not pay it. A household that has owned dogs before, knows its dog's harness size and wants the lowest price will buy at the warehouse club, and the memo accepts that loss. Those shoppers are outside the segment the store chose, and serving one segment well means accepting that others will buy elsewhere (Smith, 1956). Lowering the price to win them would mean competing on the warehouse club's terms and cutting the margin that pays for the fitting. Kotler and Armstrong (2018) call this value-based pricing: setting price around what the target buyer values rather than what every buyer would pay.
Next Steps
Launch the bundle at both stores at $79 and track three figures for six months: bundles sold, the share of buyers who return for the four-week follow-up, and the share who buy food from the store again within ninety days.
References
Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2018). Principles of marketing (17th ed.). Pearson.
Nagle, T. T., & Müller, G. (2018). The strategy and tactics of pricing: A guide to growing more profitably (6th ed.). Routledge.
Smith, W. R. (1956). Product differentiation and market segmentation as alternative marketing strategies. Journal of Marketing, 21(1), 3-8. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224295602100102
The Walden MRKT 3001 Week 6 instructions
In Week 6 you recommend a price for one product or offer in memo form. State the recommendation and the price in the first paragraph. Compare the offer with the ways your target buyer could otherwise get the same benefit, using columns for money and for nonmonetary costs such as trips, time and help, and source and date every price. Set the cost floor below which the business loses money on each sale. Explain who will not pay your price and why you accept that. Close with the figures the business should track after launch.
Inside the MRKT 3001 Week 6 example
The memo is addressed to the owner and opens with the $79 recommendation and what the bundle includes. A five-row table compares routes on money, trips, time and fitting, with prices checked during one week. The reading section explains that the warehouse club is cheaper by $11 but lacks fittings and small bags, and cites Nagle and Müller on pricing to value against the next best alternative. The cost floor section breaks $52 into merchandise and fitting time and estimates the contribution from 400 bundles. The section on lost buyers cites Smith and Kotler and Armstrong. Next steps list bundles sold, follow-up returns and repeat food purchases.
MRKT 3001 Week 6 rubric: what earns full marks
Pricing memos are graded on whether the price is justified by value, cost and the target buyer, with each comparison grounded in real alternatives. The recommendation should appear first. The comparison should include the buyer's real alternatives and nonmonetary costs, with sourced, dated prices. A clear cost floor shows the price is sustainable. Strong memos explain which buyers will not pay and why the business accepts that, which shows the price fits a segment rather than everyone. Recommendations that rest only on cost-plus arithmetic, or that undercut competitors without considering margin, show weak reasoning. Next steps should name a small number of measurable outcomes.
Common MRKT 3001 Week 6 mistakes, and how to avoid them
List every way your target buyer could get the same result today, including doing nothing. For each, write down the money, the number of trips, the time and whether help is included; check prices yourself and note the date. Then add up your own cost for the offer, including staff time, to find the floor. Choose a price that sits sensibly against the alternatives for your buyer and above the floor. Finally, ask who will refuse that price and decide whether that is acceptable. Common weaknesses are ignoring nonmonetary costs and forgetting staff time in the cost floor. Share your offer and we can help build the comparison. Remember to date every price, because prices change and a reader needs to know when yours were true. A memo that can be checked is a memo an owner can trust.
Get a MRKT 3001 Week 6 example written to your instructions
With the Week 6 prompt and its rubric in hand, the desk drafts a pricing memo that argues one figure against what the chosen buyers already spend, delivered in 24 to 48 hours; the first costs nothing. Supply your own offer and market if you have them. Alternative prices in the table are sourced and dated.
More MRKT 3001 papers and BS in Business Administration samples
- MRKT 3001 Week 1: Marketing Beyond Promotion Post
- MRKT 3001 Week 2: Marketing Environment Scan
- MRKT 3001 Week 3: Market Segmentation Brief
- MRKT 3001 Week 4: Brand Positioning Statement
- MRKT 3001 Week 5: Brand Equity Analysis
- MRKT 3001 Week 7: Distribution Channel Note
- MRKT 3001 Week 8: Promotion Plan and Sample
- MRKT 3001 Week 9: Digital Marketing Brief
- MRKT 3001 Week 10: Target Reach Peer Reply
- MRKT 3001 Week 11: Marketing Plan Final Paper
- BUSI 2001 Week 6: Non-Compete Application Memo
- BUSI 3010 Week 6: Quality Defect Memo
- BUSI 3014 Week 6: Descriptive Statistics Summary
- BUSI 3016 Week 6: Quarterly Budget Memo
MRKT 3001 Week 6 questions, answered
Where can I find a free MRKT 3001 Week 6 sample paper?
The pricing memo and its comparison table are reproduced on this page, open to all.
What price does the MRKT 3001 Week 6 memo recommend?
$79 for a New Adopter Starter Bundle that includes two in-person harness fittings.
What is the cost floor?
$52, made up of $41 in merchandise and about $11 in staff time for two fittings.
Why not match the warehouse club?
Its route is about $11 cheaper but offers no fitting, and matching it would cut the margin that pays for the fitting.
Who will not pay $79?
Experienced, price-first owners who know their dog's size, a group outside the store's chosen segment.