International Marketing in Germany – From a cultural perspective

5.6
 
Precimeter Group
Respondent in the interview is Magnus Terner, marketing manager at Precimeter Group. 
Precimeter sells, produces and develops molten metal level control solutions. The company 
has been active in the market for more than 20 years and in the German market it has been 
active since 1998 with representatives. Since 2007 it owns a subsidiary company in Germany. 
It was Precimeter’s own decision to enter the German market, which it did since Germany is a 
large market with many possible customers and also because of personal contacts and 
interests. Today Germany stands for 20 percent of Precimeter’s turnover. Precimeter’s 
opinion about the German market is that focus lays on technology especially with regard to 
selling visits. Germans want to know exactly how and when something will happen.
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5.6.1
 
Price 
Precimeter makes use of customer value based pricing strategy in Germany. The 
pricing 
strategy
is standardized all over the world. The company also applies standardized list prices 
for all its products, except with regard to packaging, where it charges an extra 10 Euro for the 
package, since this is how it works in Germany. This is not what Precimeter applies in other 
countries. The package charge has to be specified on the invoice, since Germans want 
everything to be specified and find it important to pay for everything. Knowing that Germans 
are reliable and do not bargain when doing business Precimeter feels comfortable having the 
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Filippa K AB 
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Precimeter Group 

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same prices as in Sweden. Germans are more interested in the technological solution, meaning 
that when they have decided to buy something they are also prepared to pay for it. Precimeter 
finds this matter to be of advantage since it always knows what price to set and how to handle 
the customer.
However, Precimeter applies adapted 
discounts
, offering the German market 2-3 percent off if 
they pay earlier than needed (Skonto), since this is the way Germans do business. Precimeter 
finds this to be connected with the matter of how Germans are: that they are concerned about 
order and efficiency. Meaning if they pay earlier they should also be rewarded for it. For 
Precimeter this is a win-win situation, creating better cash flow and less insecure account 
receivables as well as satisfied customers. 
The 
period of payment
is also adapted being shorter in Germany as in Sweden, this is doable 
since Germans are very correct almost always paying their bills on time. Precimeter never 
makes use of pre-payment in Germany, which is something that it sometimes does in other 
cultures such as the Asian culture.
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