Data-driven pricing.

Competitive pricing balances three anchors: competitor prices, cost-plus margin floor, and brand positioning (premium, parity, value). This tool recommends the higher of competitive price (adjusted for positioning) and cost-plus price (ensures minimum margin), preventing price cuts that would harm profitability.

100 competitor average price, 40 your cost, 30% target margin, 10% premium positioning. Competitive price = 100 × 1.10 = 110. Cost-plus price = 40 ÷ (1 - 0.30) = 57.14. Recommended: 110 (higher of the two). At 110 price, 40 cost = 70 margin, 64% achieved - well above target. Positioning is doing the heavy lifting; competitors are strong anchors.

Positioning strategies: premium (+10-30%) for superior quality/brand, parity (0%) for commodity markets, value (-10-20%) for price-sensitive. Whatever you choose, stick to it - inconsistent positioning confuses customers and erodes pricing power over time. A 100 product flexing between 85 and 115 trains customers to wait for sales.

A worked example

Try the defaults: competitor average price of 100, your cost of 40, target margin of 30%, positioning of 10%. The tool returns 110.00. You can adjust any input and the result updates as you type — no submit button, no reload. That's the real power here: seeing how sensitive the output is to one or two assumptions.

What moves the number most

The result responds to Competitor Average Price, Your Cost, Target Margin %, and Positioning %. Not every input has equal weight. Flip one at a time toward extreme values to feel which ones move the needle most for your situation.

The formula behind this

Competitive price = competitor × (1 + positioning %). Cost-plus = cost ÷ (1 - margin %). Recommended = max of the two. Everything the calculator does is shown in the formula box below, so you can check the math against your own spreadsheet if you want.

What the score tells you

Headline financial numbers — income, savings, debt — each tell part of the story. This calculation stitches several together into a single read you can track over time. The value is in the direction, not the absolute number.

What this doesn't capture

The score is a composite of the inputs you provide. Life context — job security, family obligations, health, housing — doesn't appear in the math but shapes the real picture. Use the number as a prompt, not a verdict.