One global price loses money: pricing an app per storefront

The default is a single price in one currency, which Apple converts into every other. It is simple, and it is wrong almost everywhere, because the same number is expensive in one country and suspiciously cheap in another.

Start from purchasing power

For each storefront that matters, ask what a comparable subscription costs locally: streaming services, other apps in your category, a coffee. Set a starting price in that range. It will be lower than your home price in some markets and, occasionally, higher.

Then look at the data

Trial-to-paid rate by storefront is the number to watch. A market with plenty of trials and few conversions is often a pricing problem. A market with few trials but a strong conversion rate may bear a higher price. Change one storefront at a time, wait a full trial cycle, and compare.

Cheaper is not always better

In some markets a very low price signals a low-quality app, and conversion falls. In others, the gap between monthly and annual plans matters more than the absolute number. Test rather than assume; the answer differs by category.

Trials and introductory offers

Trial length can be set per storefront too. Markets with lower trust in subscriptions sometimes convert better with a shorter trial and a lower first-period price than with a long free trial that people forget to cancel and then resent.

Keep it maintained

Apple adjusts price tiers and currencies periodically. Each time, review your storefront prices against local reality rather than letting them drift with exchange rates. Put it in the calendar.

Where this shows up

In the account: cost per trial targets per country only make sense if the revenue per customer per country is known, and that depends on the price. Pricing and acquisition are the same decision seen from two sides.