-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DOCUMENT CONTROL (HEADER) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Document ID : DAB_BP_6_3_001 Title : Business Plan, Section 6.3, Pricing Strategy Version : 1.1 Status : DRAFT Classification : Internal, Confidential Prepared By : PYB / Daralbeida Reviewed By : (pending) Approved By : (pending) Approval Date : (pending) Owner : PYB / Daralbeida Date Created : 2026-04-01 Last Revised : 2026-06-13 00:00 UTC Update Cycle : On any pricing change; before investor distribution Next Review Due : (pending) Annual Review : (pending) Retention : 3 years from date of creation Department : STRAT Style : BPGP Keywords : pricing strategy, retail price architecture, channel parity, promotional discipline, EVOO, MAFTA, MSRP Related Docs : DAB-BP-6-MKTG-SALES-001; DAB-BP-8-1-8-2-001; DAB-AMZ-LAUNCH-MASTER-001 Supersedes : DARX_STRAT_BP_SECT6_3_20260401.txt Superseded By : (none, current version) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUTLINE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Purpose and Scope 2. Governing Principle 3. Retail Price Architecture 4. Competitive Price Positioning 5. Channel Pricing Consistency 6. Promotional Pricing Discipline 7. Price Sensitivity and Adjustment Triggers 8. AI Prompts 9. Revision History 10. Acronyms 11. Glossary DOCUMENT CONTROL (FOOTER) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================================ 1. PURPOSE AND SCOPE ================================================================================ This document is Section 6.3 (Pricing Strategy) of the Daralbeida Business Plan. It defines the governing pricing principle, the retail price architecture for both SKUs, competitive positioning rationale, channel pricing discipline, authorized promotional mechanics, and the two legitimate triggers for a price review. This section is subordinate to and consistent with the full business plan. Pricing confirmed at date of creation: 0.5L = $26 retail; 1L = $32 retail. Confirm current pricing before any public or marketplace deployment. Origin claim discipline: all copy uses Morocco only. No sub-regional, estate, or geographic qualifier until a specific contracted and verified estate is on file. ================================================================================ 2. GOVERNING PRINCIPLE ================================================================================ Daralbeida's pricing strategy is anchored to a single non-negotiable principle: price is set by positioning, not by cost-plus arithmetic. The retail price communicates brand tier before a consumer reads a single word of copy. A price that sits in the wrong range, too low to signal premium, too high without the brand infrastructure to justify it, damages credibility in both directions. Pricing decisions are made with reference to competitive positioning first, unit economics second. ================================================================================ 3. RETAIL PRICE ARCHITECTURE ================================================================================ The launch SKU is the 0.5L bottle at $26 retail. The 1L bottle is priced at $32 retail. The $26 price point for the 0.5L is deliberate. It places Daralbeida above the accessible premium tier occupied by Graza ($15-$18) and clearly below the luxury gifting tier occupied by Brightland ($38-$40), occupying the premium everyday segment: a price a serious home cook will pay regularly without requiring a special occasion justification. At $26 the price-per-liter ($52/L) is competitive with verified single-estate EU EVOOs, while the MAFTA zero-duty structural advantage means landed economics support that price without margin compression. The 1L at $32 retail ($32/L) rewards volume commitment. The per-liter price drops from $52 to $32, a 38% reduction, creating a meaningful trade-up incentive for converted customers. This SKU is a loyalty and retention mechanism, not a price-sensitive entry point. No SKU is priced below $26. There is no introductory price variant. Promotional mechanics operate below the stated retail price but are temporary and always disclosed as such. Permanent price reductions are not used as a demand lever. ================================================================================ 4. COMPETITIVE PRICE POSITIONING ================================================================================ The premium EVOO category at retail spans approximately $12 to $60 per bottle. Daralbeida's $26 entry price occupies a specific and deliberate position. Brand Price Range and Notes ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Graza $15-$18. Plastic squeeze-bottle; influencer-first; different consumer segment. Cobram Estate ~$22. Volume benchmark. Daralbeida 0.5L $26. Target position. Citizens of Soil and EU $28-$35. Single-estate comparables. single-estate EVOOs Brightland $38-$40. Luxury gifting tier; VC-funded. Daralbeida at $26 sits between Cobram Estate and Morocco Gold. As review volume, editorial coverage, and retail placements accumulate, the pricing floor can be reviewed upward. Price increases once brand equity is established are operationally straightforward. Price decreases to recover demand are not. ================================================================================ 5. CHANNEL PRICING CONSISTENCY ================================================================================ Retail price parity across channels is a strict discipline. The Amazon listing price, the DTC Shopify price, and any retail shelf price for a given SKU are identical. Channel economics differ, Amazon extracts a 15% referral fee plus fulfillment fees; DTC carries Shopify transaction costs and outbound shipping; specialty retail requires a wholesale discount, but those differences are absorbed into channel margin, not passed to the consumer. Wholesale price to specialty retailers: 50% of retail MSRP. SKU MSRP Wholesale ────────────────────────── 0.5L $26 $13.00 1.0L $32 $16.00 These terms are non-negotiable at initial placement. Retailers seeking a deeper discount are not the right placement for the brand at this stage. Broker commission (5-7% of wholesale) is absorbed by Daralbeida from the wholesale margin and does not affect retailer cost or consumer shelf price. This is modeled into retail channel P&L before any placement is accepted. ================================================================================ 6. PROMOTIONAL PRICING DISCIPLINE ================================================================================ Authorized promotional vehicles (Amazon channel only): 1. Amazon coupon clips, typically 5-10% off. 2. Subscribe and Save discounts, typically 5-15%. Both are temporary, consumer-visible, and do not alter the stated MSRP. Neither is deployed before Phase 1 gates are cleared. Deploying promotions before establishing review velocity trains the algorithm and the consumer to expect a discounted price rather than a full-price product. Prohibited in Phase 1 and Phase 2: Lightning Deals, Prime Day promotions, percentage-off sale events. These generate velocity spikes that distort organic ranking signals, attract price-sensitive buyers who do not convert to repeat purchasers, and create brand adjacency with commodity products. Price floors on all promotions: - 0.5L: no effective consumer price below $22 at any tier. - 1.0L: no effective consumer price below $27 at any tier. Any deployment of promotional mechanics in Phase 3 requires founder approval. ================================================================================ 7. PRICE SENSITIVITY AND ADJUSTMENT TRIGGERS ================================================================================ Daralbeida does not adjust retail price in response to competitive pressure, short-term demand softness, or Amazon ranking fluctuation. These are marketing and operations problems, not pricing problems. The two legitimate triggers for a retail price review are: Trigger Description ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Trigger 1 Landed cost increase: a sustained and material increase exceeding $1.50/unit that cannot be absorbed through producer contract renegotiation or logistics optimization within two shipping cycles. Trigger 2 Brand equity accumulation: top-5 Amazon ranking in the premium EVOO category sustained for three consecutive months; minimum 200 verified reviews at 4.5 stars or above; at least two editorial placements in nationally distributed food media. These conditions support a price increase to $28-$30 for the 0.5L without conversion rate risk. Any price change, up or down, requires founder approval and a documented rationale. Pricing decisions are not delegated to the PPC contractor or any channel manager. ================================================================================ 8. AI PROMPTS ================================================================================ The following copy-paste prompt regenerates or stress-tests this pricing section. Replace tokens in [SQUARE_BRACKETS] with current values before running. ================================================================================ START OF PROMPT ================================================================================ You are a pricing strategist for [BRAND_NAME], a premium [PRODUCT_CATEGORY] venture. Using the inputs below, audit the retail price architecture and flag any deviation from positioning-led pricing discipline. Inputs: - Launch SKU and price: [SKU_1] at [PRICE_1] retail. - Secondary SKU and price: [SKU_2] at [PRICE_2] retail. - Competitive set with price ranges: [COMPETITOR_LIST]. - Structural cost advantage: [COST_ADVANTAGE, e.g. MAFTA zero-duty]. - Authorized promotional vehicles and floors: [PROMO_RULES]. - Price-review triggers: [TRIGGER_LIST]. Deliver: (1) a one-paragraph verdict on whether the price communicates the intended brand tier; (2) a table of each SKU with MSRP, wholesale at 50%, and promotional floor; (3) any pricing decision that appears cost-plus rather than positioning-led; (4) the conditions that would justify a price increase. ================================================================================ END OF PROMPT ================================================================================ ================================================================================ 9. REVISION HISTORY ================================================================================ Version Date Author Summary of Changes ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1.0 2026-04-01 PYB Initial issue. 1.1 2026-06-13 PYB Reformatted to BPGP v3.1: added header and footer control blocks, AI Prompts and Revision History sections, single-line paragraphs, and U+2500 table separators. Content preserved verbatim. ================================================================================ 10. ACRONYMS ================================================================================ ASIN Amazon Standard Identification Number B2B Business to Business DTC Direct to Consumer EVOO Extra Virgin Olive Oil FBA Fulfilled by Amazon FFA Free Fatty Acids HTS Harmonized Tariff Schedule IOC International Olive Council MAFTA Morocco-America Free Trade Agreement MSRP Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price P&L Profit and Loss PPC Pay-Per-Click PYB Internal reference code for the Daralbeida founder SKU Stock Keeping Unit STRAT Strategy (department code) USPTO United States Patent and Trademark Office VC Venture Capital ================================================================================ 11. GLOSSARY ================================================================================ Brand-Equity Tier The third price tier in Daralbeida's staged Amazon pricing architecture. Triggered by 50+ verified reviews at 4.3+ stars and top-10 organic ranking on a primary category keyword. Price: $32 for the 0.5L SKU. Daralbeida Brand name of the premium Moroccan EVOO venture. Always one word. USPTO trademark application filed, Class 29. EVOO Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Highest IOC grade. FFA 0.8% maximum, cold-extracted without chemical processing. MAFTA Morocco-America Free Trade Agreement. Grants Moroccan-origin EVOO zero import duty under HTS 1509.10.4000. The zero-duty structural advantage underpins Daralbeida's ability to price competitively against EU-origin brands. MSRP Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. For Daralbeida: $26 (0.5L) and $32 (1L). Identical across Amazon, DTC, and retail channels. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DOCUMENT CONTROL (FOOTER) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Document ID : DAB_BP_6_3_001 Version : 1.1 Status : DRAFT Last Revised : 2026-06-13 00:00 UTC Update Cycle : On any pricing change; before investor distribution Next Review Due : (pending) Annual Review : (pending) Owner : PYB / Daralbeida Distribution : Internal only, do not circulate without founder approval Review Triggers : Landed cost increase exceeding $1.50/unit sustained over two shipping cycles; brand equity accumulation (top-5 ranking, 200+ reviews at 4.5 stars, two editorial placements) COMPLIANCE : Pricing confirmed at date of creation: 0.5L = $26, 1L = $32. Confirm current pricing before any public or marketplace deployment. Channel Pricing Matrix (subsection 6.3.4) is not yet drafted, do not reference as complete. All origin copy uses Morocco only, with no sub-regional or estate qualifier until a contracted and verified estate is on file. Revision History : See Section 9 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END OF DOCUMENT --------------------------------------------------------------------------------