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Standardization of Retail Pricing Best Practices with Technology


Written By: Gargi Sarma 


In today's quickly changing retail environment, pricing tactics are more important and dynamic than ever. The days of retailers deciding on prices and marketing plans just once or twice a year are long gone. Rather, there is an increasing need for real-time price judgments that are flexible enough to adjust to changing market conditions, consumer preferences, and rivalry. This shift's core is the move from conventional consulting-led pricing knowledge to standardized, automated SaaS-based pricing solutions.


Leading this change is RapidPricer's RASPER (RapidPricer Automation as a Service for Pricing in E-commerce and Retail) system, a state-of-the-art SaaS-based pricing platform that enables merchants to optimize promotions and prices instantly. But before exploring what RASPER has to offer, it's critical to comprehend how pricing expertise has evolved from manual approaches to automated solutions.

Figure 1: What Advanced Pricing Methods Improve


The Traditional Approach: Consulting and Analysis-Driven Pricing


In the past, consultants who focused primarily on in-depth analysis, market research, and intricate data modeling were in charge of developing price strategies. In order to obtain knowledge about market developments, competitive pricing, and customer behavior, retailers would collaborate with price consultants. The labor-intensive approach took a long time to provide recommendations that could be put into practice. Strategies were frequently decided once or twice a year and then put into action over an extended period of time, usually lasting six months or longer.


Furthermore, product categories and assortments were not routinely examined, so any changes in the market or in customer preferences could only be taken into account much later. Even while this method was comprehensive, it lacked the flexibility required in the hectic retail world of today.


Figure 2: Evolution of Pricing in Retail


The Shift: From Analysis to Automation


As technology developed, it became clear that agility and real-time pricing were necessary. Retailers started converting to more data-driven, software-based solutions instead of consulting-led pricing structures. Strategies for pricing were no longer fixed. From once-a-year tests to quarterly evaluations, they changed to more frequent evaluations of assortments, demand, and rival actions.


However, the emergence of automated pricing systems such as RASPER was the true game-changer. These systems give retailers rapid pricing advice in addition to analyzing market data, enabling them to act promptly. Businesses are now able to maintain real-time competitiveness thanks to this proactive pricing strategy rather than a reactive one.

Figure 3: The Impact of Improving Pricing Capabilities


RASPER: Automating the Future of Pricing


The automated, standardized pricing best practices of the future are represented by RapidPricer's RASPER system. With a SaaS platform that provides real-time pricing and promotion choices, RASPER helps retailers to transcend the conventional cycles of assortment reviews and price cycles. It can produce useful insights from just 12 weeks of historical data, simplifying the whole price management process.

RASPER highlights several key strengths:


  1. Real-Time Strategy Finalization: Eliminate the need to wait for yearly assessments. Retailers are able to quickly establish their price strategy and react to changes in the market.

  2. Quarterly Strategy Review: RASPER offers the flexibility for quarterly reviews to make sure that long-term objectives are in line with immediate activities, even though plans can be revised in real-time.

  3. Quick Action: RASPER's automation enables merchants to quickly adopt pricing recommendations, enabling them to react quickly to changes in the market.

  4. Automated Execution: Currently possible is a fully automated process that formerly needed human interaction. RASPER ensures smooth execution without requiring continual supervision by automating everything from pricing adjustments to promotional activities.


Figure 4: Fresh Produce Dynamic Pricing Example


From Consulting to SaaS: The RapidPricer Advantage

Scalability is a key factor in the switch from a consulting-driven pricing model to a SaaS solution like RASPER, in addition to efficiency. Expertise pricing, which was formerly exclusive to a small group of people who could afford consulting services, is now standardized and available to companies of all sizes. Even smaller merchants may use data-driven pricing strategies to compete with bigger companies in the market by utilizing RASPER.

Furthermore, merchants only have to pay RASPER when their price selections generate higher sales thanks to its pay-as-you-earn methodology. Because of this, it's an affordable option that links value to effectiveness.


Reducing Labor and Improving Efficiency


The pricing procedures of the past required a lot of labor. To examine cost adjustments, manually compute new prices, and reconvene on Tuesday to confirm them, for instance, store managers and pricing analysts would meet every Monday. On Wednesday, the new rates would be live updated, requiring one employee to put in around 40 hours of labor a week only to stay on top of pricing changes.


Analogously, conducting test vs control studies, which may take forty to sixty hours, was necessary for monitoring and responding to changes in competitive prices. Before making judgments, analysts had to manually choose which goods were most appropriate for testing, export the data, and then discuss them in meetings.


These procedures are automated by RASPER, which significantly cuts down on the time and effort required. Retailers save significant time and money since the system manages pricing modifications, competitive price monitoring, and promotional activities without the need for manual interaction.


Figure 5: Projected Impact of Automation by Core Merchandising Activity (Source: McKinsey & Company)


Conclusion:

There has been a notable change in the market with the transition of pricing best practices from an analysis-driven, consultant-led approach to an automated SaaS-based solution. Leading this shift is RapidPricer's RASPER, which offers merchants a platform for automated execution and real-time price determinations.


It's evident that automation and real-time pricing are essential to the success of retail businesses both now and in the future as we get closer to the release of our next product. To satisfy the expectations of the modern retail environment, RASPER sets the benchmark for contemporary pricing solutions by combining flexibility, efficiency, and scalability.



About RapidPricer

RapidPricer helps automate pricing and promotions for retailers. The company has capabilities in retail pricing, artificial intelligence, and deep learning to compute merchandising actions for real-time execution in a retail environment.


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