Overthinking a bowl of raisin bran.

May 16, 2011 10:39 AM

If I compare the price of a box of raisin bran with the same company's boxes of bran flakes, I unerringly find the price per pound of raisin bran to be lower. Is this because raisins weigh significantly more and thus are actually cheaper by the pound than the cereal?

This is phenomenon is counter-intuitive to me (and makes me wonder why companies advertize that they add more raisins then their competitors which would be tantamount to claiming their product was cheaper to make.)

posted by Obscure Reference to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

Best answer: My guess: bran flakes are a health food product, and as such can be sold at a premium since the targeted consumer is less budget-conscious than a consumer of raisin bran, a mass-market food product whose purchasers are very price-focused.
posted by killdevil at 10:44 AM on May 16, 2011

Best answer: I'd agree with killdevil; it seems more like a "what they can get away with" issue than a "carefully tabulated the bran/raisin actuarial tables to determine optimal price" one.
posted by Rinku at 10:49 AM on May 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Cost isn't the only factor involved in product pricing strategy.
posted by birdherder at 10:51 AM on May 16, 2011

Best answer: I'll go one farther and say cost is literally not a factor at all in determining price points, other than selling at a price below costs is usually, although not always, a bad idea.

People are willing to pay more for raisin-free bran flakes.
posted by GuyZero at 11:05 AM on May 16, 2011

Best answer: I imagine the companies sell a much higher volume of raisin bran than plain bran flakes. Thus they can sell at a lower price while still making profit.

Plus, selling a higher volume of raisin bran might mean that they can actually make the raisin bran cheaper than the bran flakes. They probably have to adjust their production each time they want to package some plain bran flakes.
posted by natteringnabob at 11:12 AM on May 16, 2011

Best answer: Well, maybe all bran flakes are not created equal. Different ingredients may mean a different cost? (Providing the company starts with a k and rhymes with bellogs?)
posted by peagood at 12:19 PM on May 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best answer:

People are willing to pay more for raisin-free bran flakes.

Though simple, this really is the best answer. It's also why gas costs more before major holidays and why hotel rooms are so expensive--because people are willing to pay the money. It may be useful to investigate and discuss why people are willing to pay more for raisin-free bran flakes, but the relative cost to produce and ship the types of cereal is, really, irrelevant.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:38 PM on May 16, 2011

Best answer: Concur with all of the above, in that supply and demand both play a large part in pricing strategies--comparing the two cereals isn't necessarily an apples-to-apples comparison.
posted by jroybal at 1:12 PM on May 16, 2011

Best answer: To add another wrinkle, it's possible that bran flakes are more expensive than raisins to produce at equivalent volumes. You have to make the flakes.
posted by mkultra at 1:15 PM on May 16, 2011

All are great answers but I think natteringnabob has it. Higher volume = lower price.
posted by Shane at 6:29 AM on May 17, 2011