Pricing Psychology & Revenue Models

Price Elasticity: Reading Demand Curves

Learn how demand curves translate small price moves into outsized volume changes. Practice reading elasticity, slope, and the signals that tell you when to raise or hold price.

Price elasticity of demand is defined as the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in ______.

promotion spend

inventory

price

income

Elasticity standardizes responsiveness by using percent changes. It lets you compare sensitivity across products with different scales.

If |elasticity| > 1 on a segment, a small price increase is expected to ______ revenue, ceteris paribus.

not change

guarantee

decrease

increase

In elastic ranges, quantity falls faster than price rises, so revenue typically drops. The opposite holds in inelastic ranges.

Around a straight-line demand curve, elasticity is higher toward the ______ prices and lower toward the ______ prices.

lower; higher

higher; lower

list; anchor

median; extreme

At high prices, a given absolute change is a larger percent change in price and quantity. Elasticity shrinks as you move down the curve.

A common practical proxy for inelastic demand is observing stable volume after a ______ price rise.

tiny

unannounced

infinite

moderate

If a moderate increase leaves volume almost unchanged, demand is relatively insensitive near that point. That is a field signal of inelasticity.

When costs spike, firms often prefer raising price where contribution margin stays positive and demand is ______.

perfectly elastic

hyperelastic

unknown

inelastic

Raising price on inelastic items protects profit with limited volume loss. Elastic items risk revenue and share erosion.

Revenue is maximized near the point where |elasticity| is approximately ______.

infinite

2

1

0

When elasticity is −1 in magnitude, a given price change offsets quantity change, making revenue locally flat at a maximum on many demand shapes. This reinforces the core idea in practice.

Cross-price elasticity measures how demand for Product A responds when the price of Product B changes; for complements it is typically ______.

zero by definition

undefined

negative

positive

For complements, a higher price of B reduces demand for A, creating a negative cross effect. Substitutes tend to be positive.

Short-run demand for staples tends to be ______ elastic than long-run demand.

perfectly

equally

more

less

Over time, customers find substitutes or change habits, increasing elasticity. Short-run adjustments are constrained.

In practice, elasticity is often estimated with controlled tests or MMM; both must separate price effects from ______.

SKU codes

cookie decay

shipping zones

promotions and seasonality

Confounds like promos and holidays can mimic price effects. Clean identification is required for credible elasticity estimates.

A company reporting roughly “1-to-1” elasticity implies a 5% price rise leads to about a ______ drop in volume.

1%

10%

0%

5%

One-to-one means the percent fall in quantity roughly matches the percent rise in price. That leaves revenue broadly unchanged near that point.

Starter

You can read elasticity signs and magnitudes; tighten your feel for confounds and curve regions.

Solid

Solid grasp of elastic vs. inelastic zones and revenue peaks. Keep validating with experiments, not anecdotes.

Expert!

Expert—your estimates separate price from promo and seasonality. You know where to move price and by how much.

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