Price It Right: Markup, Discounts and Pricing Strategies

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Business and Personal Finance · Business / Marketing / Entrepreneurship
SP-BUS-009 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 2
Price It Right: Markup, Discounts and Pricing
Strategies
Business and Personal Finance · Business / Marketing / Entrepreneurship · Grades 10-12 · 50 minutes
Time needed
50 minutes (one class period)
Prep
Copy the 2-page worksheet (one per student). Calculators are optional.
Technology
Optional: basic calculators.
Student
independence
High. Students work alone on a problem set.
Copies to make
One 2-page worksheet per student
Materials
Pencils, Worksheet, Calculators (optional)
Goal for today: Students will calculate selling prices using markup and discounts, compare markup with margin, and
identify common pricing strategies.
Before the bell
☐ Copy the worksheet, one per student (2 pages).
☐ Set out calculators if you have them.
☐ Write on the board: Markup = selling price − cost. Margin = profit ÷ selling price.
Say this to start
Setting a price is one of the biggest decisions a business makes. Too high and nobody buys. Too low and the business
loses money. Today you will do the math that businesses use to set prices and discounts, and then match the names of
common pricing strategies. Show your work, and use a calculator if you have one.
Run of show
Minutes
What you do
What students do
0–5
Take attendance. Hand out the worksheet. Read the
formula box aloud.
Follow along.
5–30
Tell students to complete questions 1–8, showing their
work.
Solve the price and percent problems.
30–40
Tell students to complete the matching section (questions
9–14).
Match each strategy to its definition.
40–44
Tell students to answer question 15 in a sentence or two.
Write a short explanation.
44–48
Read answers aloud from the key. Students check the
math.
Correct mistakes in another color.
48–50
Collect the worksheets.
Hand in the worksheet.
If things go wrong
• If students ask how to take a percent off: multiply the price by 100% minus the discount. For 20% off, multiply
by 0.80.

SubstitutePlans.com
Business and Personal Finance · Business / Marketing / Entrepreneurship
SP-BUS-009 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 3
• If students answer question 4 as 30% off: explain that the second discount is taken off the new, lower price,
so the total is less than 30%.
• If a student gets stuck, suggest skipping to the next question and returning later.
• If the room gets loud, move to silent work for five minutes.
Early finishers
• Write the price of an item that would feel cheaper with psychological pricing and explain why.
• Make up your own markup problem and solve it.
• Find the discount percent that makes a $40 item cost $30.
Support and challenge
• Support: Provide a calculator and work question 1 aloud together before students continue.
• Challenge: Ask students to find the selling price that gives a 40% margin on an item that costs $30.
Notes for the teacher (you fill this in)
Jot a few lines before you leave. A full Daily Sub Report is in the free Sub Survival Kit at SubstitutePlans.com.
How far the class got / what to pick up next:
Students who were especially helpful:
Anything the teacher should know: