Case Study: Carmex

Carmex has been dedicated to providing their customers superior lip balm products that heal, sooth, protect, and hydrate lips for over seventy-five years. Carmex’s enduring success can be attributed to the strong brand, loyal customer base, and a growing product line. Estimates predict that Carmex holds approximately 10 percent of the lip balm market with their distribution channels consisting of major drug stores, convenience stores, food and grocery stores, mass merchant retailers, and of course, online in more than twenty-five countries around the world. Carmex’s product pricing has played an instrumental role in allowing them to remain competitive for the last seventy-five years and be recognized by the Pharmacy Times as the number one pharmacist recommend lip balm brand for fifteen consecutive years (Kerin & Hartley, 2017, p. 394).
Product pricing must support the other three elements, product, place, and promotion. Product pricing should consider fixed and variable costs, competition, organizational objectives, positioning strategies, and the consumer’s willingness to pay. Organizations oftentimes adopt different pricing strategies, Carmex has adopted four different pricing approaches (“Marketing Mix (4P’s) Price And Pricing Strategies,” n.d.). Carmex managers analyze information from four different pricing approaches in order to determine the optimal price to market their product. These pricing approaches are known as are demand-orientated, cost-orientated, profit orientated, and competition