The Real Struggle Behind Pricing: A Small Business Story

My mom own a shop and, and she sells a lot of things. One of the thing that always trouble her even though she’s a small business owner is “Pricing”

Many times I have seen her go to the market to get some things and when she comes back she complains about how the prices are different from what she bought the last time which means, she has to either increase the price of a good, or change the supplier especially if there is an alternative to that product. Now, many customers prefer using a particular product, and wouldnt go for the alternative but they would always complain about the new price of this product. I understand her perfectly because I do the same when I am out to get some things i use often and I hear that the price has changed.

Let me telling something about pricing that you might not know about. Pricing, it’s one of the trickiest decisions every business owner faces. Set it too high, and your customers will walk away; set it too low, and you risk losing profit or some other people will doubt the credibility of your product. But what will happen if the market or government steps in to decide how much you can or can’t charge? Is that protection for consumers, or a limitation on entrepreneurship?

I’ll explain to is like an economist to you, so please pay attention and if there is a place I’m wrong, do correct me with an explanation.

Every company or enterprise knows the value of their product to be frank, all product can be given a good valuation by expert which will not allow the product to be undervalued. I believe it would be a good thing for a good government to help determine price of products because most of this companies and enterprise in my country are out to rip off their customers, lets not even talk of the local traders.

They tend to forget that not everyone earns the same, and not every product should cost as if it’s made of gold. Some sellers believe that as long as people are still buying, the price can keep going up and this is what is killing us as a country. You walk into the same shop a week later, and the price of a simple household item has doubled. When you ask why, the seller says, “Dollar has gone up, and that’s how the market is now.”

But think about it, if everyone keeps adjusting prices without regulation, how will the average person survive? Imagine earning the same salary every month, yet the prices of food, transport, and even basic necessities keep changing. That’s why I feel there should be some form of control, not to frustrate business owners, but to create balance between fairness and profit. People can be crazy when increase price, lets not even talk about price of phones.

However, I also understand that price control can sometimes limit growth. If the government forces everyone to sell at a fixed price, what happens when the cost of production increases? Small business owners like my mom will struggle to keep up. It’s like being caught between two hard choices, protect the consumer or protect the business owner.

In the end, I believe pricing should be fair and flexible. There should be guidelines, yes, but not rigid rules that choke small businesses. The government should focus more on monitoring inflation, ensuring affordable supply chains, and reducing taxes that make goods expensive in the first place. This way the life of the citizen will be easier

Thanks for reading. My name is fashtioluwa