Hard-pressed brand manager, come on down! And welcome to tonight’s fun-packed episode of The Price is Right. You will be joined on stage by your fellow contestants: anxious investor, frazzled supplier, ruthless deep-discounter, ball-breaking grocer and credit-crunched customer. Your boss will be watching at home. This could be one hell of a show.

Or perhaps not. At times like these, with no one knowing quite what is about to happen to consumer demand, getting the price right is harder than ever. What will the market tolerate? And how can you set prices with any confidence when your own costs may be about to soar, or tumble?