案例库 · 财务与会计 · 财务决策 · 1998–2002
这条还没译成中文，下面是英文原文。
Merrill Lynch priced a choice of service so it could fight discount brokers.
Under assault from online brokers, Merrill priced an advice-and-trade bundle with client models, launching Integrated Choice for $80 million of new revenue.
Merrill Lynch
那一手
In late 1998 online and discount brokers threatened Merrill Lynch's value proposition of advice and guidance from a financial advisor, because Merrill charged mainly for trade execution, now a commodity.
A cross-functional team evaluated alternative product and service structures and pricing, building models to assess how individual clients would behave. They tested price schedules, minimum-fee levels, product combinations and features, including how much revenue was at risk if only price-sensitive clients switched.
The models showed revenue at risk of $200 million to $1 billion, which shaped the design. Merrill launched Integrated Choice, including Unlimited Advantage, a fee-based account combining advice with unlimited online trading. By the end of 2000 the new offer held $83 billion in client assets, added $22 billion in net new assets and produced $80 million in incremental revenue.
为什么管用
- Trade execution was a commodity, so the fee needed to move to advice and service, not per-trade.
- Client-level models revealed who would defect, so pricing could target the margin rather than the mass.
- Minimum fees stopped small, unprofitable accounts from eroding the base.
- Launching before peers let Merrill seize the initiative instead of reacting.
可以搬走什么
When a cheaper new option threatens your core, model client behaviour to price the bundle so you capture the switch rather than lose the margin.
后来呢
Integrated Choice let Merrill go on the offensive and shifted retail brokerage toward advice-fee models. The pricing discipline it built became a lasting management-science capability at the firm, and the launch changed how a full-service broker competed with online discounters. Merrill was absorbed by Bank of America in 2009.
资料来源
- Pricing Analysis for Merrill Lynch Integrated Choice (Interfaces 32(1), pp. 5–19)
- Clients Flock to New Service, Merrill Says
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