Benchmarking bundling practices in the software industry

Pricing comprises a crucial part of software product management. One strategy to follow is bundling; the sale of two or more products or services as one package. So far, little is known about the use and acceptance of bundling as a pricing tool within the software industry, especially when it comes to combining products and services into one package. In this paper we present the results of a small sample survey conducted with software companies, to both identify the bundling strategies that are employed and to let these companies benchmark their strategies with their competitors. In total, twenty-three companies took part in a web survey. Amongst others, results show that currently 71\% of the companies make use of bundling and the average size of their packages is equal to five components. The configuration of such a package proceeds by assembling components around the product or service that is closest to the core competence of the organization