Hi, and welcome to DRIP Streetwear! I'm Sven, and I work in Sales. I sell our sneakers to shops in other cities, and together with Leyla, our founder, I decide what a pair costs in our own online shop.
Last night we had a drop again, and the team chat has been busy all morning. Three sneaker shops have also sent orders, and they are waiting for my offers. I could really use your help.
Let's start: download your workbook, then go to Step 1. Everything you write goes into your workbook, in the part for Day 1.
Open your workbook for Sales and go to Day 1. Keep this page open next to it.
Download your workbook for SalesThis file is for your internship in Sales, with one part for Day 1 and one part for Day 2. Download it once and use it on both days. The file lands in your Downloads folder.
The morning after the drop
Read M1: the team chat the morning after the drop, and a message from a customer called Malik. Sven wants to try a new tool for the next drop. Find out which problem he wants to solve and why Malik is worried. The word bank explains the words you need in Sales.
- drop
- Produktstart: the evening a new model goes on sale, only in small numbers
- reseller
- Wiederverkäufer: someone who buys a product only to sell it again for more money
- offer
- Angebot: a written price for a customer, with amount and delivery date
- volume discount
- Mengenrabatt: a lower price per piece for a bigger order
- price list
- Preisliste: all prices of a company in one table
- demand
- Nachfrage: how many people want to buy a product
- dynamic pricing
- dynamische Preise: the price changes with demand, sometimes every minute
- turnover
- Umsatz: all the money that comes in from sales, before costs
The morning after the drop
The team chat and one customer message
Sold out in less than an hour again! 400 pairs. But look at the resale sites: people already sell our Runner 2 there for €200.
80 pairs went to the same five addresses. I bet those are resellers with bots.
There's a tool for this: PriceBot. It raises the price while demand is high and lowers it later. Then the extra money goes to us, and resellers make less.
Sounds good. Sven, can you plan it for the next drop?
Hi DRIP, is it true that the price will change during the next drop? I'm an apprentice, and I've saved for two months to have exactly €119. If the shoe costs more at 8 p.m., I can forget it.
Hi Malik, thanks for asking! We are still planning the next drop and will tell you soon.
- Write two sentences. Sentence 1: Which problem does Sven want to solve with PriceBot? Use a number from the team chat. Sentence 2: Why is Malik worried?Help: “Sven wants to use PriceBot because resellers ... Malik is worried because he ...”
A strong answer: Resellers bought part of the 400 pairs (80 pairs went to the same five addresses) and sell them again for €200. Sven wants PriceBot to raise the price while demand is high, so that the extra money goes to DRIP instead. Malik has saved exactly €119. If the price rises during the drop, he cannot buy the shoe.
Check your answer: Did you use a number from the team chat?
Write the offers
Three sneaker shops sent orders to Sven. Read M2 first: what Sales does and how a volume discount works. Then use the price list in M3 to write the offers. Always write down your calculation.
What Sales does
Prices, offers, discountsSales finds customers and sells to them. At DRIP, Sales sells to other businesses: sneaker shops in other cities that order bigger amounts. Sales writes the offer with price, amount and delivery date. Big orders get a volume discount: the more pairs, the lower the price per pair. Together with Leyla, Sales also decides the price in DRIP's own online shop.
Sven's desk
The price list and three orders from shopsDRIP Streetwear · for shops
Price list DRIP Runner 2
| Pairs per order | Price per pair |
|---|---|
| 1 to 29 | €89 |
| 30 to 49 | €79 |
| 50 or more | €72 |
Shipping: €40 per order. Orders of 50 pairs or more ship for free. Payment within 30 days.
SoleMates, Bonn
- Wants
- 30 pairs of DRIP Runner 2
Kicks Corner, Düsseldorf
- Wants
- 45 pairs
- Question
- “Would it be cheaper for us to take 50 pairs?”
Urban Feet, Cologne
- Wants
- 32 pairs
- Sven's draft
- 32 × €89 = €2,848, plus €40 shipping = €2,888
- a) Order 1: calculate the total price for SoleMates, shipping included. Write down your calculation.
- b) Order 2: calculate the total price for 45 pairs and for 50 pairs, shipping included. Then calculate the price per pair for both orders: total price ÷ number of pairs, rounded to cents. Answer the question of Kicks Corner in one sentence.Help for b): “50 pairs cost only €... more in total, but one pair costs €... less, so ...”
- c) Order 3: Sven's draft has a mistake. Write down the mistake, the correct total price and how much more Urban Feet would pay with Sven's draft.Help for c): “Sven used the price for ... pairs, but Urban Feet orders ... So the correct price per pair is ...”
a) 30 × €79 = €2,370, plus €40 shipping = €2,410.
b) 45 × €79 = €3,555, plus €40 shipping = €3,595. 50 × €72 = €3,600, and shipping is free. So 50 pairs cost only €5 more than 45 pairs. Per pair: €3,595 ÷ 45 = €79.89, €3,600 ÷ 50 = €72.00. Answer to Kicks Corner: yes, 50 pairs are much cheaper per pair, and it pays off if the shop can sell the five extra pairs.
c) Sven used the price for 1 to 29 pairs (€89). For 32 pairs, the price is €79: 32 × €79 = €2,528, plus €40 shipping = €2,568. With Sven's draft, Urban Feet would pay €320 too much, and DRIP could lose the trust of a good customer.
PriceBot and a real case
Sven wants to use PriceBot at the next drop. Read M4: how dynamic pricing works. Then read the real case of the Oasis tickets in M5.
How dynamic pricing works
What PriceBot doesAn AI pricing tool watches the demand live: how many people are in the shop, how fast the stock goes, what similar shoes cost elsewhere. When many people want a product, it raises the price. When demand falls, it lowers the price. This is dynamic pricing. Airlines and hotels have used it for years. Customers usually cannot see why a price changed.
A real case: Oasis tickets
Dynamic prices for a concertIn August 2024, tickets for the comeback tour of the band Oasis went on sale in the UK. The seller Ticketmaster used dynamic pricing. Many fans waited in an online queue. When it was their turn, a ticket shown for £148.50 at the start could cost £355.20. Many fans were very angry. The UK office that checks fair competition (CMA) started an investigation (Untersuchung).
Sources: CBC News, 5 September 2024; CMA, September 2024
- a) Use M4. Explain in two sentences when PriceBot raises the price and when it lowers it. Use the word “demand”.
- b) Use M5. Airlines have used dynamic pricing for years, and most people accept it. Why were the Oasis fans so angry? Give one reason in two sentences.
- Sven writes to Leyla: “With PriceBot, the fans who want the shoe most pay more, and people who can wait pay less. That's the fairest price there is.”
- c) Use M1 and M4. Give one reason why Sven could be right and one reason why he could be wrong. One or two sentences each.Help for c): “Sven could be right, because ... He could be wrong, because what someone can pay depends on ..., for example Malik ...”
a) When many people want the shoe (high demand), PriceBot raises the price. When demand falls, it lowers the price.
b) For example: the fans had seen a fixed price and waited for a long time in the queue, and the higher price only came at the end, without a warning. A concert of your favourite band is about feelings, and with flights, people are used to changing prices.
c) Right: people who want the shoe very much pay more, and the extra money goes to DRIP instead of to resellers. Wrong: a high price shows what someone can pay, and that is something different from how much the shoe means to them. Malik saved for two months, but he has little money.
What I learned today
Write three sentences, one for each important thing you learned today, in your own words. For example: how a volume discount works, and when PriceBot changes the price.
Check your workbook
- Save your workbook.
- Choose the file here.
- Does the page name a step? Then an answer is still missing or very short. Fill in that box, save the file and choose it here again.
- When all answers are there, Sven answers you and the solutions appear under every step.
- Compare the solutions with your answers. Is a number or a fact in your answer wrong? Write “Correction:” and the right answer in the same box, under your answer.
- Is the answer your own opinion or your own rule? Then more than one answer can be good. Write “Also:” and one idea from the solution that you did not have.
- Save your workbook again.
Thank you! All three offers are ready to send, and you found the mistake in my draft for Urban Feet. That would have been an expensive email.
See you next time in Sales!