Pricing and positioning
The discount trap, price architecture, memberships and courses, what premium actually requires, and what happens when prices are not published.
Pricing is where most of the damage in this category is done, and almost none of it is done deliberately. It accumulates through offers that were meant to fill one quiet week, through a menu that grew rather than being designed, and through the decision not to publish a number in the hope of having a conversation instead.
These five pieces treat price as a structure rather than a figure: what a discount actually costs beyond margin, how a menu changes what people choose, how to trade a better rate for commitment, what a premium position requires before the price rises, and what price visibility does to the quality of an enquiry.
The discount trap, and how beauty businesses fall into it
Discounting does not fail because it is unprofitable. It fails because it changes who books, what they expect and what your price means.
Pricing · 9 min readBuilding a price architecture for a service menu
A menu is a decision-making tool, not a list. How levels, anchors and sequence change what clients choose, without changing what you charge.
Pricing · 9 min readMemberships, packages and course pricing in a service business
Prepayment turns irregular visits into predictable revenue. It also creates a liability and obligations to the client. How to design it properly.
Pricing · 9 min readPositioning above price: what premium actually requires
Premium is not a price level, it is a set of operating commitments. What has to be true across the whole business before a higher price is defensible.
Pricing · 8 min readPutting prices on the website, and what happens when you do not
Hiding prices filters out fewer bad enquiries than it filters out good ones. What price visibility does, and the rules that govern how prices are shown.
Pricing · 8 min readThe trade newsletter
For people who build beauty and wellness brands. Sent when there is something worth sending, not when the calendar says so.
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