Pricing Services for Arts & Cultural Organisations
Baker Richards offers unique expertise in understanding pricing strategy, revenue management and dynamic pricing in the cultural sector and an unparalleled track record in helping arts organisations to increase sales and/or income.
We offer tools to help organisations increase the effectiveness of their pricing strategy or we can offer a Pricing Healthcheck or a full Pricing Review.
Pricing strategy is a vital tool in achieving the key organisational objectives of maximising yield (income per ticket) and volume of sales. Cultural organisations benefit from an unusually wide range of variables that can be adjusted as part of their pricing strategy and a well-designed, sophisticated strategy can promote access, maximise attendance, increase income, and build profitability and capacity to pursue an organisation’s mission.
Pricing can be complex, but small adjustments can yield substantial gains for almost any arts organisation - money which many are currently leaving on the table. The bottom-line impact: with a 10% margin, a 5% increase in price results in a 50% increase in a surplus. Some examples of small changes making a big difference in Baker Richards pricing work:
- A theatre increased average price by 3% but yield by 10%, predominantly through discount control.
- An orchestra increased average price by 9%, but yield by 12% through subtle re-scaling of the auditorium.
- A theatre increased sales by 12% and income by 23% to generate an additional £160,000 on one production by adjusting scaling and the variable pricing of performances.
- Another theatre reduced Panto performances by 16%, but changes to scaling, variable pricing by performance and discount control delivered a 9% increase in total income, despite the shorter run and only a 3% increase in average price.
- In one year, Birmingham Hippodrome increased income by £460,000 by implementing a combination of tactics.
