The Pricing Blog by Omnia Retail

Dynamic pricing is when a company or store continuously adjusts its prices throughout the day. The goal of these price changes is two fold: on one hand, companies want to optimize for margins, and on the other they want...

Dynamic pricing is when a company or store continuously adjusts its prices throughout the day. The goal of these price changes is two fold: on one hand, companies want to optimize for margins, and on the other they want to increase their chances of sales. Dynamic pricing is a pricing strategy that applies variable prices instead of fixed prices. Instead of deciding on a set price for a season, retailers can update their prices multiple times per day to capitalize on the ever-changing market. Dynamic pricing often gets confused with personalized pricing. But these two different types of pricing are extremely different from one another. To put it simply, dynamic pricing looks at your products and and their relative value in relation to the rest of the market. Personalized pricing, on the other hand, looks at individual consumer behaviors and gauges (and changes) a product’s value based on past shopping experience. How to get started with Dynamic Pricing? Download free whitepaper Personalized pricing is controversial because it uses individual data and shopping experiences information that many consumers consider private and personal. It’s also somewhat risky in an age where consumers can interact with and talk to each other like never before. If Consumer A finds out they paid more for the exact same product than their best friend, their trust in a company will erode. Dynamic pricing, on the other hand, allows you to capture extra sales and take advantage of a changing market without invading consumer privacy or trust. Dynamic pricing in e-commerce Dynamic pricing and e-commerce co-evolved together. As the internet became more sophisticated and online shopping grew, so has the need for dynamic pricing. Consumer electronics was one of the forerunners in the retail landscape in terms of the trend towards online. As a category of elastic products that are sensitive to price changes, it makes sense. Retailers need dynamic pricing to stay on top of the market and continue to offer competitive prices. But as consumer spending rises in this category (and with it the online market share), two developments that affect dynamic pricing have emerged: Increased price transparency: As more people shop for consumer electronics online, the amount of comparison shopping also increased. Consumers are now far more likely to evaluate a retailer’s prices against the company’s competition. This shines a spotlight on your product price and makes it the most important part of each sale. Since consumer electronics are typically highly elastic, a 5%-10% difference between your price and your competitors could be the deciding factor for a consumer. More frequent price changes: Because of this increased demand for price transparency and matching, the number of prices changes every day has increased dramatically since the dawn of e-commerce. Traditionally, the supplier or the manufacturer would determine the price of a product with a consumer advised price (CAP). However, this CAP quickly became irrelevant with the growth of comparison shopping online. Today, prices are determined by the retailer instead of a supplier, and are based on a variety of variables, including general market trends, competition prices, and stock levels. A variety of other categories, such as Toys and Games, for example, follow the same pattern: when online spending rises, so does the demand for price transparency. This, in turn, leads to an increased frequency of price changes and the use of dynamic prices. This trend often also attracts new players on the market without physical stores, which makes it difficult for traditional retailers. Although the traditional retailers have the first mover advantage, they are generally less flexible in adapting their (pricing) strategy. However, the retailers that do capitalize on their omnichannel advantage can move ahead of the pack. Dynamic pricing software Most retailers practice a most basic form of dynamic pricing by discounting items at the end of a season or using a clearance sale to get rid of extra stock. However, dynamic pricing can go much further than a discount at the end of a season. When you use a dynamic pricing software, you can wield the power of data to capture more sales and take control of your assortment. Today, almost all major retailers will use some sort of dynamic pricing software. Dynamic pricing online Dynamic pricing has obvious benefits online: you can follow the competition, adjust prices instantly, and easily capture quantitative metrics about your store to improve your performance. Dynamic pricing offline Dynamic Pricing is also useful offline. Through the use of electronic shelf labels (ESLs), you can easily apply dynamic pricing practices to your physical store. This helps you keep your prices up-to-date with what you present online, and makes pricing management easier. What are some dynamic pricing strategies? Traditionally, there are three basic ways retailers set their prices: the cost-plus method, the competitor-based method, and the value based method. The cost-plus method is the most simple out of all three. All you need to do is take the cost of your product and add the desired margin on top of that cost. The main advantage of cost-plus pricing is that it’s easy to understand and implement. However, its main disadvantage is that it only considers internal factors, ignoring external market conditions. To determine the margin or 'markup' percentage, use this simple formula: subtract the product's cost from its selling price, then divide that difference by the cost. Finally, multiply the result by 100 to get the markup percentage. The competitor-based method follows your competition. If your competitor changes their price, you’ll change your price as a result, whether that’s to be lower or higher than your competition. The main advantage of this pricing approach is that it considers external factors like competitor pricing. However, its downside is that it assumes competitors have accurately set their prices. The value-based pricing method follows the price elasticity of a product. Different consumers value items differently, so everyone has a certain threshold that they are willing to pay for a product. A value-based pricing method capitalizes on the public’s perception of the value of a product and charge accordingly. The main advantage of this pricing method is that it integrates both external and internal data, providing a balanced approach. However, its main drawback is its complexity, making it the most difficult pricing method to implement. Dynamic pricing software allows you to combine different pricing methods at the same time. Some softwares also allow you to incorporate other useful information, such as your stock levels, popularity score, and even the weather forecast. Talk to one of our consultants about dynamic pricing. Schedule a demo How to implement dynamic pricing Implementing dynamic pricing is a journey, one that has a lot of twists and turns. And it does create a big change in your organization. That’s why you should view the adoption of dynamic pricing as an opportunity to improve your overall pricing strategy and internal systems, as well as your overall margin. Is it hard to get started with dynamic pricing? After hundreds of implementation projects, we’ve come up with a five-step process to successfully implement dynamic pricing: Define your commercial objective: Your commercial objective is like your company’s compass: it’ll help you navigate any institutional changes and keep you heading in the right direction. The commercial objective applies to more than just pricing and marketing, but it’s the first step for a successful dynamic pricing strategy. Learn more about how to define your commercial objective here. Build a pricing strategy: Your pricing strategy takes your commercial objective, then translates it into strategy that your team will use to sell products. An example? Say your overall commercial objective is to be known as the cheapest retailer on the market. Your pricing strategy would then be to make sure every product in your store is cheaper than the competition’s offering. To develop an effective pricing strategy, follow a three-step approach. Learn how to build a pricing strategy here: Assess Your Place in the Market Start by evaluating your current pricing model—this is known as the "As-Is Situation." Gather stakeholders to review your existing approach and answer key questions: What is your current pricing model, and what are its strengths and weaknesses? Are you a market leader or a challenger? Is your focus on maximizing sales volume or overall profitability? This reflection helps you understand where you stand before making any changes. Build Your Pricing Strategy Framework Next, engage stakeholders in solution sessions to establish a shared understanding of the As-Is analysis. Many assume this step is unnecessary, but it's crucial to ensure everyone is on the same page about existing pricing strategies. Use these sessions to review findings and create a draft framework. This involves leveraging expertise from sales, segment managers, and pricing specialists to craft a strategy that aligns with your business goals and customer needs. Set Business Rules for the Future With a clear framework in place, the next step is defining the "To-Be Situation"—how you want your pricing to function going forward. Establish the levers and rules that will guide your pricing and calibrate them based on your analysis. After aligning internally, begin testing and iterating these rules using tools like Omnia to see what adjustments yield the best results. Choose your pricing method(s): Your pricing strategy tells you what you want to do. Your methods are how you’ll achieve those pricing goals. Your pricing methods are more specific than your pricing strategy. Establish pricing rules: Pricing rules tell your dynamic pricing software what to do. You should set a rule for every product that the software needs to track and change. Test and monitor: The final step for getting started with dynamic pricing is to test and monitor your software’s changes. Learn more about testing the effectiveness of your online pricing. Read more about interesting pricing strategies here: What our the best pricing strategies?: Read about 17 pricing strategies for you as a retailer or brand. What is Price Monitoring?: Check out everything you need to know about price comparison and price monitoring. What is Value Based Pricing?: A full overview of how price and consumer perception work together. What is Charm Pricing?: A short introduction to a fun pricing method. What is Penetration Pricing?: A guide on how to get noticed when first entering a new market. What is Bundle Pricing?: Learn more about the benefits of a bundle pricing strategy. What is Cost Plus Pricing?: In this article, we’ll cover cost-plus pricing and show you when it makes sense to use this strategy. What is Price Skimming?: Learn how price skimming can help you facilitate a higher return on early investments. What is Map Pricing?: Find out why MAP pricing is so important to many retailers.

Is there anything that pairs better than e-commerce and direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales? With e-commerce, companies remove the inconvenience of having to go to a physical store, and products are shipped right to the...

Is there anything that pairs better than e-commerce and direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales? With e-commerce, companies remove the inconvenience of having to go to a physical store, and products are shipped right to the consumer’s doorstep. D2C sales models are the perfect pairing: with all middlemen removed, the seller has total control over the customer experience. The only middleman we see is the person delivering our package. In 2023, both established brands and digital native vertical brands (DNVB) are pursuing D2C strategies across a huge range of e-commerce verticals. In this article, we’ll highlight three especially interesting and competitive verticals in e-commerce – Electronics, Sports and Home & Living – and look at the current state of D2C businesses across these areas. Trending Verticals in E-commerce Worldwide e-commerce revenue is projected to reach $4.11 trillion in 2023, with the highest-selling verticals being fashion; electronics; and toys, hobby and DIY. Omnia is especially interested in analysing verticals with multiple retailers selling the same or comparable products that consumers research heavily online. These verticals offer significant dynamic pricing opportunities, since price fluctuations are constant and competition is high. Let’s look at an overview of three verticals that check these boxes. Electronics Consumer electronics continues to be one of the reigning e-commerce champion verticals, with sky-high sales over the last decade and further growth as work from home becomes a more established workplace vision for some professions. It is the second-most popular e-commerce category behind fashion, with expected revenue of $910 billion in 2023, or 22.1% of all online sales. Sports Sporting goods are a fast-growing e-commerce vertical, with 43.7% of sports products being bought online. The sports category is an interesting case, however, because of its high Average First Order Value (AFOV). Businesses with high AFOV need to make a profit on every transaction, because repeat purchases are not as common as other verticals. The AFOV for sports businesses is extremely high, but it has one of the lowest levels of 12-month growth in Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). The sports vertical is continuing to grow in the post-pandemic landscape, with businesses in the US, UK and Europe seeing a boost in revenue and traffic in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the end of 2022. Home & Living As you can see in the chart above, the home category, like the sports vertical, has a high AFOV and a low rate of repeat purchases, putting pressure on businesses to achieve a sufficient profit margin on each product. Home goods have faced some challenges post-pandemic, as people spent less time at home and less money on home improvement. The vertical has been slower to bounce back than other categories in terms of year-on-year revenue change, but businesses in the UK and Europe did see a boost to Q1 2023 revenues compared to the end of 2022. Current State and Outlook of D2C in E-commerce Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands are continuing to grow worldwide, with nearly two-thirds (64%) of consumers making regular purchases directly from brands in 2022. This D2C wave is present in a wide range of markets: in the US, D2C is forecast to grow to $213 billion USD by 2024; in Germany, D2C revenue was already valued at €880 million at the end of 2021; and in India, total D2C sales was $44.6 billion USD in 2021. There are two types of brands that sell D2C: Digital native vertical brands (DNVB) – Companies that were born online and have a strong digital presence. These companies often sell niche products directly to consumers through e-commerce platforms and social media, bypassing traditional retail channels. Established brands – Companies who have built an established presence, reputation and customer base through various channels, including traditional retail, advertising and other marketing efforts. These brands may have a strong online presence as well, but their roots are often in traditional manufacturing and distribution. In the US, 40% of established brands are already implementing a D2C growth strategy. It’s a headline-grabbing topic of conversation, but how significant is the role of D2C in the wider e-commerce landscape? Estimates from Insider Intelligence said that D2C sales would account for 1 in 7 e-commerce dollars in 2022. And while DNVBs are often the brands capturing media attention, established brands are projected to account for 75.6% of D2C e-commerce sales in the US in 2023. In fact, the D2C online sales for established brands have had a higher growth rate than DNVBs since 2021, although both types of D2C brands still show strong growth. Challenges for D2C Brands Every operator in the retail space faces its own unique challenges, but D2C brands are a unique case. They retain more control over their customer relationship, products, pricing and supply chain dynamics, but they also hold responsibility for the entire end-to-end experience and whether their product makes it into the hands of consumers. Challenges for D2C brands in e-commerce include: Customer Acquisition Costs: Competition for digital advertising space is high, and as a result, the cost of advertising on social media platforms, search engines and other channels can be quite expensive. This can be especially challenging for D2C startups and small businesses with limited marketing budgets. Supply Chain Management: D2C brands typically manage their own supply chain, which can be complex and time-consuming. From sourcing raw materials to manufacturing and shipping products, there are many moving parts to manage. Delays or disruptions at any point in the supply chain can impact product availability and customer satisfaction. Competition from Established Brands: As mentioned earlier, established brands with existing customer bases and sizable marketing budgets can be formidable competitors for DNVB brands. These brands often have more resources to invest in marketing and customer acquisition, and they may have stronger brand recognition and customer loyalty. Customer Experience and Service: D2C brands are often held to higher standards when it comes to customer experience and service. Customers expect a seamless, personalised experience when shopping online, and any issues with shipping, returns or customer service can lead to negative reviews and damage the brand's reputation. Scaling Operations: As D2C brands grow, they may struggle to scale their operations while maintaining quality and consistency. This can be especially challenging when it comes to managing inventory, production, and shipping logistics. D2C Maturity in Key E-Commerce Categories: Electronics, Sports and Home Let’s return to the three e-commerce verticals we discussed earlier. Each of these has its own level of maturity, as well as successful D2C brands, both established and DNVB. Electronics The consumer electronics vertical is relatively mature when it comes to e-commerce D2C sales. Over the past decade, there has been a significant shift in the way consumers purchase electronics, with many people choosing to buy products directly from brands online rather than through traditional retail channels. Established brand: Apple Apple has long used D2C retail operations to drive customers into its “walled-garden ecosystem,” and has made clear its plans to continue investing in D2C. It’s clearly working: the company was able to triple its market value to $3 trillion between 2018 and 2022. DNVB: Anker Innovations Anker, a Chinese mobile charging brand, is considered a pioneering DNVB. While they also sell via Amazon and other marketplaces, a majority of their sales still come from D2C. Sports The sports vertical has been growing more mature with D2C sales, as has been evidenced by the number of new DNVB brands as well as established brands taking major steps to ramp up D2C efforts. Nike, for example, announced in 2021 that they would stop selling sneakers at American shoe store chain DSW, another in a long line of breaks with traditional retail. News stories like these are signals that, with Nike as one driver, the sporting sector is developing and maturing quickly, changes that retailers will need to adapt to. Established brand: Nike Nike has an established presence in traditional retail channels, but the company’s D2C operation, NIKE Direct, has been extremely successful in both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar. In 2022, it accounted for approximately 42% of the brand’s total revenue. DNVB: Peloton Peloton is one of the most successful examples of sporting DNVBs, having been born online before growing across different distribution channels, customer segments, geographies and categories. Home & Living The home and living vertical, which includes product lines such as furniture, cookware, bedding and more, is a strong D2C market due to its low barriers to entry and lack of strong retail competition. Established brand: Ikea Ikea has always been a direct-to-consumer brand, but is not a DNVB due to its brick-and-mortar origins. In the wake of the pandemic, Ikea’s online channels had more than 5 billion visitors and an increase of 73% in e-commerce sales during FY 2021. DNVB: Westwing Westwing was founded to be a “curated shoppable magazine”, where consumers could find beautiful home & living products online. The company is now present in 11 European countries and generated €431 million of revenue in 2022. D2C Brands and Dynamic Pricing Aligning prices with retailers for your entire product assortment is no small feat, which is why dynamic pricing software is so essential for brands who utilise a D2C sales channel. As Roger van Engelen, Principal at A.T. Kearney, told Omnia in a 2018 interview: “In my opinion, brands need to have dynamic pricing before they start selling directly to consumers because it will prevent them from agitating their retail customers. This, in turn, protects brands from triggering a price-markdown war, which helps protect brand price perception.” Keep in mind that most major retailers are already using dynamic pricing software for their e-commerce shops and to ensure products are competitively priced. As a brand, the software can help you follow a market price even within strict limits. No one wants a market-wide price race to the bottom, or to anger retailer partners. To stay better aligned with your partners and pricing strategy, and to start gathering better data on your shoppers, try Omnia Dynamic Pricing free for two weeks.

We live in a world of endless choice, and while the number of options can be exciting for shoppers, it can also be overwhelming. Comparison shopping engines (CSEs) have emerged as a valuable tool for shoppers to make...

We live in a world of endless choice, and while the number of options can be exciting for shoppers, it can also be overwhelming. Comparison shopping engines (CSEs) have emerged as a valuable tool for shoppers to make informed purchase decisions and for e-commerce brands and retailers to increase online visibility and sales. But CSEs are not all the same; some, like Google Shopping, are huge generalist sites covering any product you can think of, while others are vertical shopping sites focused on specific categories. The most popular sites also vary by country, and each population uses them differently. In this post, Omnia discusses what consumers use comparison shopping engines for, the top sites by country, some benefits and challenges of selling on CSEs, and what we expect to see in the future. Consumers use comparison shopping engines to reduce choice overwhelm and find the best price As our global economy continues to accelerate, consumers are faced with an increasing number of choices and opportunities. This means that many consumers are overwhelmed by too many offers that they have difficulty evaluating. This is how CSEs first appeared in the 1990s: influential digital institutions wanted to create a solution that would keep internet users in contact with available products, assisting the shopper in making a purchase while reducing confusion and overwhelm. Comparison shopping engines have now become a significant piece of the tool belt for e-commerce businesses looking to increase their online visibility and boost sales by going head-to-head against the competition. CSEs allow customers to quickly view different products from multiple vendors, compare features and prices, and make informed decisions about what to buy. CSEs are often some of the highest ranking websites in their respective regions, and for brands and retailers selling on CSEs, the sites can increase visibility among shoppers who may not have otherwise found the business or products through other marketing methods. With Google, for example, Google Shopping results and ads appear either above the search results or on the right side of the page, guaranteeing users will see the products first. What consumers want out of a CSE One study cited in the International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications asked respondents to define which characteristics of a CSE would determine its quality: 81% wanted the CSE to find a lower price offer 80.2% wanted the CSE to be easy to use 76.8% wanted the CSE to be accurate in finding the right offer 70.2% wanted to have access to additional information about the offer and/or supplier 58.7% wanted the CSE to also have ratings, comments, and evaluations from other buyers That first statistic is consistent with other studies and the conventional wisdom that CSEs are used first and foremost to find the best price, which makes sense considering that they are also referred to as “price comparison websites” CSEs are used across the world, but the most popular sites and categories vary No matter the country, there are shoppers looking for the best deal, so CSEs have a worldwide presence. Some of the most popular CSEs in European markets include: How CSEs are used varies by location, age group, income level, and other factors. In a study in the UK, for example, shoppers in the 35-44 age range were the most likely group to have used a price comparison website, with 75% saying they had shopped on a CSE before. Source: Statista CSE comparison: Google Shopping and Amazon Google’s CSE arm is Google Shopping, and it’s one of the biggest comparison sites worldwide. Users shop across the platform more than 1 billion times per day, with 36% of all product searches originating on the site. Meanwhile, 49% of all product searches originate on Amazon, which has more than 1.7 million sellers for shoppers to compare. There is a key difference between the two, however, since Amazon is a marketplace. While marketplaces may include some comparison features, such as filters and sorting options, they are not primarily designed to be comparison engines. Amazon has a vested interest in getting customers to the checkout button or, even better, buying their own branded products on the site. Google sees its role differently: In 2021, Google Commerce President Bill Ready said the following on a podcast: “We’re not a retailer, we’re not a marketplace… What we do want to do is make sure that on a Google surface, the user can discover the best products, the best values, the best sellers, and then seamlessly connect to those sellers. Most of the time, that actually means clicking out to that seller’s own website; it is not our goal to necessarily keep the user on our platform.” This is interesting to note for brands and retailers selling on either site, and other CSEs in general, as it indicates the key differences between the goals of the platforms themselves. While any CSE will still monetise the process through ads, transaction fees, or other channels, some such as Google may not take on as much of the responsibility of getting the shopper all the way to the purchase point. Because of this, Google Shopping may be a unique case that does not fit perfectly into either the marketplace or CSE bucket. Benefits and challenges of selling on CSEs While each comparison shopping engine comes with its own pros and cons for brands and retailers, some of the key benefits and challenges to consider are consistent across platforms: Benefits: Expanded visibility: Listing products on CSEs enables retailers and brands to increase their visibility to potential customers who are actively searching for products. Improved conversion rates: CSEs often attract customers who are further along in the purchase process, meaning that they are more likely to convert into buyers. Increased sales: As a result of the increased visibility and improved conversion rates, retailers and brands may see an increase in sales. Cost-effective advertising: Unlike other forms of advertising, CSEs often operate on a cost-per-click (CPC) model, which means that retailers and brands only pay when someone clicks on their listing. Challenges: Increased competition: CSEs are highly competitive marketplaces, with many retailers and brands vying for the attention of shoppers. If some competitors with the same product offer are out of stock, have fewer or worse reviews, or have different delivery options, then the ones leading in these areas can win the best position on the CSE. Those products will be more likely to be chosen by consumers who care about the quality and trustworthiness of the offer. Cost: While CSEs can be cost-effective, the CPC model can quickly add up, especially for smaller retailers and brands with limited marketing budgets. Product data management: Retailers and brands must provide accurate and up-to-date product data to CSEs, including pricing, availability, delivery options and product descriptions. This can be time-consuming and requires ongoing maintenance. Limited control: CSEs can have their own guidelines around product data, and retailers and brands may have limited control over how their products are presented on the platform. One interesting factor that can be both a benefit and a challenge is consumer trust, as it is dependent on the reputation of the specific CSE in general or in a particular market. In the UK, for example, a government study found that while most consumers trusted CSEs at least a fair amount across most measures, trust levels were much lower in two key areas: Half of consumers did not trust CSEs to ensure data is not shared with third parties without permission Four in ten did not trust CSEs to treat all suppliers equally On the other hand, some comparison sites have built up a high level of trust in their markets. Check24, for example, has been operating since 1999 and is highly trusted in Germany. Price is not the only competition factor on CSEs While price is the determining factor of a product’s visibility on a comparison search engine, vendors will not only compete on who has the cheapest price. As we explored earlier, there are other factors that influence the quality and trustworthiness of an offer for consumers. When developing pricing for CSEs, sellers should consider the following factors in their strategies: 1) Filters Sellers should filter who they would like to compare product offers with and who they will adjust prices in relation to. Not every competitor will be as important to each seller; for example, even if a seller has a very competitive price, if they are a small retailer or a newcomer with an unknown name and no reviews, they won’t appear to be as trustworthy to a consumer compared to a well-known retailer the consumer trusts for fast and secure delivery. The seller may want to skip adjusting prices to these companies. 2) Market knowledge It’s important for sellers to know their market and differentiate pricing strategies between assortments and categories. For example, if you sell sporting t-shirts and sporting shoes, each market and product may have a different set of competitors, so a market analysis will be a crucial starting point. 3) Timing of price adjustments If you adjust your prices in the morning at 8am and your competitor(s) adjust theirs at 9am, then your offer will already be outdated after an hour. You can learn this through market observation, which is made simpler with Omnia’s data. 4) Price elasticity Price elasticity tends to be quite high on CSEs, so be aware and, if possible, analyse data for the platform to build the right pricing strategy for your products. Omnia has a feature in place to calculate price elasticity, as well as a process for elasticity accuracy in our software. 5) Seasonality Any seasonal factors that impact your product assortment should be taken into account when setting a pricing strategy. Special sales events like Black Friday will start with a pricing strategy weeks before, while also seeing increased competition. The same goes for Christmas shopping, when sellers need to keep delivery dates in mind for shoppers who want their products by Christmas eve, and how prices might change along with this. Seasonality shapes consumer behaviour and shopping needs throughout the year, so it is a good idea to have important dates and periods prepared for the whole assortment. 6) Channel alignment Aligning the offers you provide on the CSE with all other sales channels will be important for consistency. Considering the specific conditions of each marketplace and CSE in price calculations will lead to different prices. However, having automation and an overall pricing strategy, with rules such as rounding to a particular digit, will help properly represent the vendor in the market and easily master all different channels. The future of comparison shopping: Where do CSEs go next? With the world of e-commerce changing so rapidly, what can we expect of comparison shopping in the future? Increased use of AI and Machine Learning: Comparison shopping engines will increasingly leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning to provide more personalised and targeted search results to shoppers. This will result in more accurate product recommendations and better user experiences. Deeper integration with social media: Comparison shopping engines may integrate more deeply with social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok to allow shoppers to make purchases directly from these platforms. This could result in an increase in impulse purchases and a greater focus on social media marketing for retailers. More focus on the changing customer experience: CSEs will need to continually adapt to provide a seamless, up-to-date customer experience. This could include developing mobile-specific features and interfaces, such as voice-activated search and augmented reality shopping, as well as loyalty programs or new payment models. Shifting competition: CSEs will face new types of competition as brands and retailers rethink their own selling models. Will more brands choose to sell D2C? Will retailers use their own experience selling branded products on marketplaces to produce their own labels? As costs rise amid inflation and other world events, retailers and brands will look for alternatives to increase profits, which may create competition for marketplaces from new angles. Greater emphasis on sustainability: As consumers become more environmentally conscious, comparison shopping engines may need to emphasise sustainability in their search results. This could include highlighting products with eco-friendly certifications or partnering with brands that prioritise sustainability. Growing regulatory attention: Comparison shopping engines may face increased scrutiny from governments, particularly in the areas of data privacy and antitrust. This could result in greater transparency requirements for the engines and stricter rules around data collection and use.

Isn’t it a scary thought that 75% of S&P 500 incumbents will no longer be listed on the index by 2027? Due to slow or nonexistent evolvement, Standard & Poor’s data show that the evolution of corporate success has been...

Isn’t it a scary thought that 75% of S&P 500 incumbents will no longer be listed on the index by 2027? Due to slow or nonexistent evolvement, Standard & Poor’s data show that the evolution of corporate success has been dwindling for more than 50 years, stipulating that the average lifetime of an enterprise has decreased from 61 years in 1958 to just 18 years in 2011. Adaption and evolution are pertinent to the success of any enterprise, and no case of this being true is larger than the digitization of shopping. From malls to iPhones, the development of e-commerce has been the funnel for the start and the end for countless brands and retailers. As e-commerce experiences its largest growth spurt in the last three years since 2020, creating the most competitive landscape the industry has ever faced, one factor for e-commerce success has remained strong and true: Price is the number-one profit driver. As correctly stated by Prof. Hermann Simon, the world’s leading expert on pricing and the founder of Simon-Kucher & Partners, just a 1% increase in prices can yield up to 10% in profit. In this article, Omnia will discuss the importance of pricing for an enterprise’s long-term success and will display why a pricing strategy, coupled with a pricing software solution, is simply smart business development. In inflationary times, pricing is the cornerstone for enterprise success For decades, as one of the 7 P’s of marketing - a basic blueprint for retail and brand owners to launch successful products - pricing took a comfortable middle-child spot without enough attention being paid to it. The impressive and explosive trajectory of e-commerce in the last five to ten years has changed that. However, it isn’t just the growth of e-commerce that has directed the light onto pricing, but the very nature of its competitiveness and oversaturation. Consumers have become king, experiencing more options to shop and more capabilities to compare. The retailer no longer enjoys the peace of mind of knowing the consumer has to come to them - quite the opposite. As the balance of power shifted to the consumer, brands and retailers began rubbing their hands together to strategise on how they can capture the customer once more. As the other P’s (product, place, people, process, promotion and physical evidence) became less prominent as shopping moved to a web shop, pricing has become the top factor for consumers when choosing or abandoning a particular brand or retailer. In 2023, following the effects of covid lockdowns, supply chain issues and record-high inflation, pricing is more influential than ever: McKinsey reports that price is at the top of the list of consumers’ motivations to change their spending behaviours. US consumers are switching brands and retailers now more than they did in 2020 and 2021 (33% versus 46%). Furthermore, in PwC’s 2023 Global Consumer Insights survey, 96% of consumers said they intend to adopt cost-saving behaviours over the next six months and 69% have already amended spending on non-essential items. With price becoming so pertinent to consumer spending decisions in inflationary times, it becomes that much more vital for brands and retailers in e-commerce to stay ahead of market changes and conditions while driving revenue and profit upwards. On the other end of the spectrum, it’s not simply consumer buying behaviour that has propelled the importance of price: If one analyses the last decade of e-commerce, it is the powerful monopoly of marketplaces like Amazon, Google Shopping, Zalando and eBay, as well as large D2C online stores, that have developed a sense of control and manipulation of pricing in multiple categories. From electronics to personal care and everything in between, vendors and D2C small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) are contending with lower prices on these giant platforms that they feel pressured to meet or beat. And, without expertise and the right tools, how can they? Amazon has 1.9 million SMBs worldwide as third-party sellers on its marketplace, and owns a 38% majority of the US’s e-commerce market share, showing just how influential one marketplace could be over the pricing of multiple categories. It then becomes imperative that enterprises have access to scraping data and robust pricing rules and technology to remain competitive in an industry largely dominated by marketplaces. Talk to one of our consultants about dynamic pricing. Contact us Mobilising pricing power Considering how competitive and concentrated the e-commerce arena has become, with marketplaces like Amazon and Google Shopping dominating market conditions, while the D2C stream increases by double digits, how does an enterprise create a forward-thinking, data-driven pricing strategy? How does an enterprise know when to action that 1% price increase so fondly spoken of by Prof. Simon? A Bain & Company global study shows that of the 1,700 retail leaders surveyed, 85% say management teams need to make smarter pricing decisions and only 15% believe they have effective price monitoring tools. The gap is considerable. However, as a McKinsey study suggests, incorporating AI-based pricing into retail pricing and promotion can add a valuable Dollar impact of between $106 million - $212 million, which may go a long way in easing the frustrations of the aforementioned business leaders, as well as their margins. In addition, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shared in a study of theirs that it may take as little as three months to see up to a 5% increase in profit by implementing optimised pricing. As Prof. Simon also said, “Profits are the cost of survival and the creators of new value,” but, are retail leaders ready to maximise this value that’s right in front of them for their brand and their customers? According to the same Bain & Company study, implementing “new pricing capabilities” can increase the average profit by between 200 - 600 basis points: The crux of mobilising pricing power is knowing that it is not a once-off solution to fixing dismal profit margins, high sales team turnover and waning customer loyalty. Leadership needs to view pricing as the relationship is cannot get out of - and that’s a good thing. Developing pricing muscle and pricing maturity is a multi-year journey with an investment in data, automated processes and talent. Building longevity in value When one thinks about the kind of brain power, talent, hard work and almost indispensability a company may possess to reach the S&P 500 list, it seems inconceivable that a concept as elusive as adaption and evolvement could be its downfall. This goes to show how a simple mindset shift could be the deciding factor of stagnation and dissolution or growth and profitability. McKinsey shares that digitization “has less to do with technology and more with how companies approach development” and that when well executed, “it can unlock significant value by compressing timelines and eliminating duplication or inefficiencies.” As e-commerce technology advances and becomes more intelligent, it is unthinkable that one of the most critical and unpredictable factors - pricing - is not maintained manually. However, not only is the automation of pricing informed by competitor data and market insights necessary to demonstrably meet commercial goals, it is the partner in pricing, not just the software, that is needed.