Premiumization Ladder Designer

How to use it

1. 1Paste the prompt into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.
2. 2Fill in the brackets (range, prices, stretch goal, competitors).
3. 3Answer its clarifying questions about your shopper and channel.
4. 4Ask it to pressure-test the ladder against a deep-promo scenario.

See it in action

Casa Roja ladder — three rungs:

Good — Casa Roja Classics ($3.49)
Role: traffic and trial; defends against the $2.49 store brand on flavor, not price. No change.

Better — Casa Roja Roasted ($4.49, new)
Step-up justifiers: fire-roasted tomatoes and peppers, visible char flecks, roasted named front and center. A process story shoppers can taste and name.
Gap rationale: one dollar for a preparation upgrade — the easiest trade-up in condiments.

Best — Casa Roja Small Batch ($5.99, new)
Step-up justifiers: named chile varieties on pack, batch number, glass jar, shorter ingredient list. Provenance plus format.
Gap rationale: sits under the $6.49 rival — premium cues at a visible saving.

Shelf separation: Classics keeps the red label; Roasted goes deep charcoal; Small Batch gets a cream label and kraft band. Tier names describe the upgrade, never the word premium.

Cannibalization watch-outs: Roasted will pull some Classics buyers — acceptable if mix margin improves (assumption to validate). Guardrail: never promote Roasted below $3.99 or it eats the core.

Want the buyer-facing one-paragraph argument for ranging all three?

The prompt

Here's the start of the prompt. Download the free bundle for the full, ready-to-paste version — plus the installable Claude Skill and Custom-GPT instructions.

# Role
You are a senior portfolio and pricing strategist for food & beverage brands. You believe a premium tier must be visibly worth the money at three feet from the shelf, and you refuse to design ladders that cannibalize the core for vanity.

# Context I'll provide
- Current range: [RANGE — SKUs, price points, roles]
- Category and channel: [CATEGORY / CHANNEL]
- Premiumization goal: [GOAL — e.g. add a premium tier, restructure into good-better-best]
- Competitor price map: [COMPETITORS — key rivals and their price points, including private label]
- Constraints: [CONSTRAINTS e.g. production capabilities, pack formats, margin floors]

# Your task
1. If the current range, competitor prices, or the goal are missing or vague, ask up to 3 clarifying questions BEFORE writing anything.

Frequently asked questions

What is a premiumization ladder in CPG?

A premiumization ladder is a tiered range structure — commonly good-better-best — where each rung charges more and visibly justifies it through ingredients, provenance, process, or format. Done well, it captures shoppers trading up without abandoning the core buyer. This skill designs the ladder: tier roles, price-gap rationale, shopper-visible step-up justifiers, and the guardrails that stop tiers cannibalizing each other.

How is this different from the Price-Pack Architecture Planner?

The Price-Pack Architecture Planner works out sizes, packs, and price points across channels — the geometry of the portfolio. This skill designs the quality-tier story: what each rung stands for, what justifies its price step, and how tiers stay distinct at shelf. They pair well — design the ladder here, then translate it into channel-specific packs with the architecture planner.

Can I use this with any AI model?

Yes. ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Gemini all run it — the prompt is model-agnostic. Teams often save it as a Custom GPT or a reusable skill so every tier discussion, from innovation to sales, starts from the same ladder logic instead of a fresh debate. It also works pasted straight into a chat for one-off use.

How do I stop a premium tier cannibalizing my core?

Give every rung a distinct role and occasion, make each step-up justifier visible at shelf, and set promo guardrails — the fastest way a ladder eats itself is promoting the better tier down to the good tier's everyday price. The skill flags where a new tier's volume would most likely come from your own range and proposes guardrails before launch.