‘Can I Scrape Historical Data?’ & Other Pricing Myths Busted
‘Can I Scrape Historical Data?’ & Other Pricing Myths Busted The pricing software industry is plagued with many myths and false assumptions. And that’s as perfectly understandable as the technology has been moving at astonishing speed over the last decade. Pricing software has become more powerful and now offers more pricing insights than thought possible just a few short years ago. However, those myths and false assumptions act as roadblocks for people who want to adopt pricing software in their businesses. Sure, pricing software can lead to significant profit lifts, business efficiencies and time savings for most commercial organizations. If...
What’s Sales Compensation & How Can You Make it More Effective?
What’s Sales Compensation and How Can You Make it More Effective? For a lot of organizations, their salespeople are the main drivers to bringing in deals and making money. So, it’s no surprise that you’d want to make sure that they are well compensated. But how do you make the sales compensation plan effective and fair so that your sales team continues to be motivated to bring in deals that grow your business? Recently at Pricefx, one of the topics we’ve been discussing recently with our customers is about Sales compensation and sales performance. We’ve been discussing how to make...
What Infrastructure Do I Need to Use Pricing Software?
What Infrastructure Do I Need to Use Pricing Software? Despite evidence that pricing is the most critical predictor of profitability, the science of pricing and using price software is still relatively underdeveloped for many businesses. Some organizations may not have made the switch because they are still comfortable with using their legacy pricing systems, and many other companies (despite knowing the power of automated pricing and being able to eliminate manual pricing for good) can feel needlessly intimidated by not believing they are technologically ready for the switch. That is why we have decided to debunk those myths and more...
What is Data Scraping and is it Right for You?
What is Data Scraping and is it Right for You? There’s been a huge rise in demand in recent years for tools and services offering data for businesses via data scraping (sometimes also called ‘web scraping’) and similar techniques. With that sudden increase in both the amount of, and requests for data scraping assistance, there has been an accompanied rise in myths and misconceptions regarding data scraping. With this article, we have decided to examine the historical data misconception and other myths and tried to separate fact from fiction around data scraping to unearth if it is for you or...
Cost Plus Pricing: Everything You Need to Know
Cost Plus Pricing: Everything You Need to Know Knowing which pricing strategy to employ for your business can be confusing. Cost-plus pricing is considered the simplest of all. But could it bring the same benefits as more sophisticated strategies? Do the drawbacks pertain to your industry? Should you be considering a cost-plus strategy? At Pricefx, we have spent a decade helping customers work out the best pricing strategies for their specific businesses and are in a good position to guide you on the merits, weaknesses and uses of a cost-plus strategy. In this article we’ll explore what cost-plus pricing is,...
Airline Pricing Strategies Explained: Types, Examples & Tips
Airline Pricing Strategies Explained: Types, Examples & Tips As an airline trying to improve yields in the ultra-competitive Airline Industry, you face unique challenges that other industries don’t need to be concerned about. Your business is currently facing more disruptions than other industries as you continue to be affected by COVID-19, pilot shortages and the rising cost of fuel. In times like these, an airline’s pricing strategy is critical to ongoing success. At Pricefx, we’ve spent the last 10+ years assisting companies across several industries in becoming more pricing agile and more efficient. This resulting pricing dexterity helps businesses to...
Important Pricing KPIs: What Are They & How Are They Measured?
Important Pricing KPIs: What Are They & How Are They Measured? It’s easy enough to describe what a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is, right? Sure, and 99 out of 100 of you would be right in saying that a KPI is a measure that indicates how on course or how well you are tracking towards you are a goal or an objective that you seeking to achieve in either your personal or business lives. But are you as right as you could be with this definition? It might be a shock to learn that definition is just one half of...
The Benefits of Working with a Pricing Software Partner
The Benefits of Working with a Pricing Software Partner Congrats – your research is done, and you’ve completed the cost-benefit analysis math and the numbers that have spat out all agree that pricing software can add profitability, speed, and accuracy to your company’s pricing. However, while doing the math you’ve stumbled across the realization that you may require a little assistance in either implementing the pricing software and/or putting in place the pricing strategy that will help you yield the unique set of business outcomes that you’re seeking. For example, you may have identified that you require assistance in integrating...
AI In Pricing Software: Why They’re Not All The Same
AI In Pricing Software: Why They’re Not All The Same Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become such a buzzword in the price optimization world recently, that’s it hard to differentiate between offerings. Surely if all the pricing solutions do AI, then they’re all delivering the same kind of capabilities, right? Actually, no. If a language app claimed their AI could teach languages, it wouldn’t be untrue, there is some vocabulary-learning going on, but by no means are you enjoying the promised “get a new soul” experience. As providers of AI in our price optimization solutions, we at Pricefx are well...
Machine Learning vs AI in Pricing Software – What’s the Difference?
Machine Learning vs AI in Pricing Software – What’s the Difference? Congrats! You have made the big decision to switch over to the automated solution of pricing software from your outed Excel spreadsheet pricing set-up. But now, the choices for which pricing software you want are becoming blurry and confusing. On one hand, from one work colleague you have heard that pricing software powered by Artificial intelligence (AI) is great, but another of your colleagues in the pricing team has read that Machine Learning (ML) powered pricing systems are best. But who is right and what is the difference between...
6 Reasons You Don’t Need Pricing Software
6 Reasons You Don’t Need Pricing Software You know that pricing software helps optimize prices. That’s great. Lovely. You’re happy for those who like that sort of thing, but you really don’t need that. You have your own processes in place and they’re working. You have a pricing team you adore and a sales team who’ll do anything to win that deal. Why would you spend a fortune on software when everything is hunky-dory? At Pricefx, we’ve spent the last decade delivering our pricing solution to companies that want to move their pricing up a gear. And in that time,...
Why You Need Pricing Software – Building A Business Case
Why You Need Pricing Software – Building A Business Case The question of whether to purchase a pricing solution is a difficult one. Do you really need pricing software? Can’t you do without it? And if you’ve decided that pricing software is a need and not a nice to have, you’ll have to convince others. You might discover that it’s not just other projects that you might have to go up against but inertia. At Pricefx, we’ve spent many years helping companies satisfy their need for cloud-native pricing software, by providing a robust, cloud-native pricing solution with which they can...
Top 4 Components of a Chemical Industry Strategic Pricing Plan
Top 4 Components of a Chemical Industry Strategic Pricing Plan Over the past few years, the chemical industry has been hit by a seemingly never-ending barrage of challenges and changes that have forced companies to adapt and pivot to survive. No sooner had plants reopened after pandemic-enforced shutdowns and restrictions on movement been lifted, than demand was spiking amidst raw material shortages, supply-chain bottlenecks, and shipping delays. Not to mention the eye-watering cost increases across the board, with raw material prices increasing 44% across commodity classes, mostly in chemicals. As companies in the chemical industry start price planning for the year...
What is a Scoping Workshop? (In a Pricing Software Project)
What is a Scoping Workshop? (In a Pricing Software Project) Whether you’re tuning up for your company’s first-ever pricing software project or you have already launched several of them in staged expansions to your existing pricing functionality, you almost always begin with the same question. What is the best approach to cover all the aspects of the pricing software planning and preparation for the project? To align people with your vision, brainstorm new ideas, make sure you have all your pricing ducks in a row and finalize your methodology with a clear plan to start, go for a scoping workshop...
How Does AI Work in Pricing Software? – Made Simple
How Does AI Work in Pricing Software? – Made Simple It is no secret that these days your data can lead to Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered algorithms helping companies just like yours price items based on price optimization, competitor pricing, inventory levels, and customer response to sales promotions. Using AI-informed pricing software can help grow profit margins, develop loyalty from price-conscious customers, and eliminate the hard manual work and take away mystery of setting prices. But what is more of a mystery is simply explaining exactly how AI works in pricing software – which is what we will do in...
Food & Beverage Pricing Strategy: Tips, Types & Examples
Food & Beverage Pricing Strategy: Tips, Types & Examples Food and beverage manufacturers have watched in horror over the last 2 years while your input prices have skyrocketed and placed pressure on already constrained margins. What’s more, it is not exclusively food and beverage ingredient prices that are swollen to record levels. Record fuel prices and labor shortages are also an enormous part of the margin compression puzzle. Roll in other factors into the pricing equation like meat prices undergoing rapid rises as the cost for grain to feed animals climbs, and beverage makers are facing a jump in packaging...
What is Value-Based Pricing? Benefits, Drawbacks & How to
What is Value-Based Pricing? Benefits, Drawbacks & How to The power of a value-based pricing strategy to boost profit and revenue has caught the attention of pretty much every organization. But actually, adopting it is a different story. For many, the jump from cost-plus to value-based is just too wide. Will it be worth the effort? At Pricefx, we’ve spent the past decade helping companies successfully make the jump and we’ve seen how their value-based strategy has delivered incredible ROI, so we thought we’d share some of our expertise in value-based pricing with you. In this article, we’ll take a...
Distribution Industry Pricing Strategies: Tips, Types & Examples
Distribution Industry Pricing Strategies: Tips, Types & Examples As a business trying to make it in the ultra-competitive Distribution Industry, you face some unique challenges that other industries don’t need to be concerned about. Your business is currently facing more disruptions than any other industry as you are the critical lynchpin in the heavily disturbed supply chain between manufacturers on the one hand, and retailers on the other. What’s more your transportation overheads are currently priced through the roof, and labor (if you can get it) costs are rising steadily too. No wonder considering or even re-examining your distribution industry...
Penetration Pricing Strategy – Pros, Cons, Examples & Tips
Penetration Pricing Strategy – Pros, Cons, Examples & Tips Even if you have never heard the exact phrase “penetration pricing strategy” before, the chances are you have seen the pricing strategy in action. Unless you have been castaway on a deserted island the last few years, you have probably seen any number of new internet or cable providers come newly into the market either offering low introductory offers, free streaming services, or extra channels to draw in new subscribers. That is penetration pricing strategy in a nutshell. Penetration Pricing Strategy, by definition, is simply a pricing strategy that is used...
Dynamic Pricing Strategy – Tips & Examples + Pros & Cons
Dynamic Pricing Strategy – Tips & Examples + Pros & Cons When your customers visit your bricks-and-mortar or online store to purchase one of your products, most of the time they will want to know the exact prices of your products beforehand. However, if you are providing services like that of doctors, lawyers, accountants, plumbers, or electricians, setting an exact price is not a simple task. Prices vary because of multiple factors, like time, length and complexity of the service provided. That is a form of dynamic pricing and it certain cases it can be used for pricing your products...
Retail Pricing Strategies: Tips, Types & Examples
Retail Pricing Strategies: Tips, Types & Examples Over the last few years, a myriad of reasons have popped up increasing the rate of change of what we used to call ‘normal’ in the retail industry. Whether it is due to CoVID-19, rampant inflation, increasing fuel and distribution costs or an increasing drift to online shopping, shifting consumer buying patterns means it is now more important than ever to consider your retail industry pricing strategies. At Pricefx, we have been analyzing retail sales data and setting automated pricing processes for our retail clients for more than 10 years now and assisting...
Economy Pricing Strategy: What Is It & When to Use It?
Economy Pricing Strategy: What Is It & When to Use It? You have low production costs for your company’s products, but you are still struggling to meet your organization’s sales targets? It could be that that you need to consider an Economy Pricing Strategy. Also widely known as ‘Economic’ Pricing Strategy, this concept of pricing is extremely useful for companies that are keeping their overheads low. It enables businesses to price goods low and gain revenue based on many customers purchasing those low-priced goods. But if your business does not enjoy a lion’s market share or strong enough brand awareness,...
Explaining Artificial Intelligence vs Machine Learning in Price Optimization Software
Explaining Artificial Intelligence vs Machine Learning in Price Optimization Software Setting the right price for your company’s goods or services is always a tricky question to solve. What pricing strategy your business adopts will depend on your business objectives. One part of your business may seek to maximize profitability on each unit sold or on protecting your overall market share, while another sector of your company needs to access a new market or to grow an existing one. Moreover, different scenarios might coexist in your company for different products or customer segments. If that’s the case, the time might have...
Manufacturing Pricing Strategies: Tips, Types & Examples
Manufacturing Pricing Strategies: Tips, Types & Examples Global manufacturing companies are arguably facing a more challenging set of conditions than in other era in their collective histories. The prices of raw materials—including zinc, lithium, iron, copper, steel, lumber, and plastics—are on unprecedented rises, while investment in plant capacity is struggling to keep pace with the demand of growing global markets. Simultaneously, distribution and shipping costs have accelerated in recent times, meaning that manufacturers cannot simply shift production abroad where labor costs are less as a money-saving method. In that light, we are going to examine manufacturing pricing strategies in-depth in...
Everyday Low Pricing Strategy Explained + The Pros & Cons
Everyday Low Pricing Strategy Explained + The Pros & Cons You’ve probably heard the phrase “everyday low pricing” (EDLP) before and it’s possibly lodged its way into your subconscious, particularly if you live in North America. Why does it ring a bell? Because EDLP this is the pricing strategy that Walmart has used to become retail powerhouse. Amazon has followed in Walmart’s EDLP footsteps in the E-commerce sector. But is it for your business too? While it may be tempting to simply carve your prices back to rock bottom levels, it is not as simple as that. There are several...
What Happens To The Pricing Team When You Get Price Management Software?
What Happens To The Pricing Team When You Get Price Management Software? Buying pricing software can be a scary prospect. It’s a big investment and requires a comprehensive change management plan to drive adoption. Once you mention that you might be getting pricing software, no doubt you’ll have questions from members of your team wanting to know what will happen to their roles in the company. And if you lead the team you’ll probably want answers to those same questions At Pricefx, we’ve spent the last decade helping companies of all sizes across all industries to elevate their pricing strategies, fine...
Why Am I Paying for A SaaS Subscription I Haven’t Started to Use Yet?
Why Am I Paying for A SaaS Subscription I Haven’t Started to Use Yet? There’s nothing worse than having finally convinced the executives that the company needs new software than being called in a couple of months later to explain why they’re paying for a tool but haven’t had a chance to use all the features. Having spent the last decade sharing our cloud-based offering with companies looking to optimize their pricing strategies and processes, we’ve had to answer this question often. And we get it. Buying software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution takes a definite mindset shift. But once you get it,...
Everything About Price Skimming Strategy Explained (Examples, Pros, Cons, Tips)
Everything About Price Skimming Strategy Explained (Examples, Pros, Cons, Tips) Do you have a new innovative product and you want to make hay while the sun is shining and secure as much profit as you can before your customers lose interest? As time passes and your once-innovative product becomes less novel and more accessible to a greater range of people, the price inevitably and steadily declines. That is a Price Skimming Strategy in a nutshell – just one in a range of pricing strategies that can assist your business in setting precisely the right prices for your products – and...
Is Pricing Management Software Right for Me?
Is Pricing Management Software Right for Me? To maximize your profits and stay ahead of your competitors, you’ll need to be able to price your products at the absolute optimum level. If not, trying to hit the pricing targets that will assist you in achieving your organization’s business objectives will be like trying to throw darts at a moving dartboard. Sure, by sticking with your Excel or Tableau pricing system, your well-worn first-gen on-premises pricing software or even your customized in-house pricing set-up, you might hit the moving targets occasionally, but it will be more like guesswork than hard-nosed science....
Insight
Price Management Solutions – A Truck, Tree and Prevention View
Key Takeaways: One issue that price management companies face is “The Truck”; having only one person who takes care of all or most of the pricing process Another issue that companies face is the “The Tree”; not having a system that can analyze and predict vulnerabilities in your pricing process Preventing these obstacles requires improving on the following factors: people, processes and systems At Pricefx, we speak to industry-leading companies every day about their pricing and quoting processes, and their opportunities to improve them. There are two recurring themes in these discussions, which I will call “The Truck” and “The...