Top 5 Price Optimizer Software for Retail Enterprises
The global economic crisis provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the trends dominating across the industries during the last decade. In the case of retail, digitalization and implementation of top-notch pricing solutions remain the most vivid trends underlying the business development.
Now, when price sensitivity increases and competition gets tougher, even the most conservative retailers have no right to ignore advanced pricing software.
Here’s a list of the top-five price optimizer software solutions to help retail enterprises thrive in the post-crisis world.
1. Vendavo
Vendavo is one of the leading companies specialized in price management and optimization software for B2B players across the industries. The company was established in 1998 and, since that time, it has gained popularity in the US and across the globe. Today, Vendavo offers up to ten different solutions covering very specific needs of the business.
All solutions offered by Vendavo can be grouped into two main categories: Intelligent Pricing Solutions and Intelligent Sales Solutions. Intelligent Pricing Solutions include Vendavo Margin Bridge Analyzer, Vendavo Deal Price Guidance, Vendavo PricePoint, and Vendavo Profit Analyzer. Sales solutions offered by the vendor imply Vendavo CPQ Solutions, Vendavo Deal Guide, Vendavo Deal Manager, and Vendavo Business Risk Alerts. Importantly, the company also offers a range of additional services to help users gain the maximum possible advantage while using the software. For example, additional consulting or cloud hosting services are available.
The analytics module powering Vendavo’s software is fairly considered to be one of the solution’s biggest virtues. It gives great opportunities for those enterprises willing to identify money leakages in their margin management policy. But to make sure software works really well, the user has to guarantee the data’s integrity. That’s why the correct integration of Vendavo solutions plays a crucial importance in terms of the results’ sustainability.
2. Competera
Competera is one of the most prominent third-wave pricing software vendors operating around the globe. The company was established in 2014, which is also a time when cutting-edge technology development made advanced pricing solutions affordable for all types of retailers. The company’s technology is powered by the last-gen neural networks and AI algorithms working as a solver generating thousands of pricing configurations based on more than sixty pricing and non-pricing factors. That’s how the platform generates recommendations enabling retailers to reach their targets in the most sustainable way.
The company offers a comprehensive set of solutions covering all types of pricing requests. In particular, Competera enables retailers to craft optimal value offering using either dynamic or market-driven pricing approaches. Since online shopping started to boost in mid-January 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, the company launched an anti-crisis pricing initiative to help retailers deal with the transformations. As an illustration, the businesses can quickly switch to online, identify their true competitors, and track how the roles of each SKU in their portfolio change.
Competera’s products powering outlined above pricing approaches include Rule-based Pricing, Advanced Smart Rules, Demand-based Pricing, and Markdown Optimization. The company’s clients represent various types of industries from apparel and electronics to sporting goods and FMCG. Depending on the chosen configuration, the entire integration until the first profit may last up to sixty days. The solution’s ROI and scalability belong to Competera’s biggest advantages.
3. PROS
PROS is one of the most reputable price optimizer software providers operating worldwide. The recognition and trust to the company stem primarily from the profound and diverse expertise of the vendor. Pros was established in 1985 and, since that time, has won the loyalty of many retail enterprises working in more than thirty industries. Today, the company offers six main products: Control: Price Management, Guidance: Price Optimization, Smart CPQ, Opportunity Detection, and Airline Products.
PROS Control: Dynamic Pricing Management solution helps retail enterprises to integrate pricing system and replace antiquated systems with a single and easy-to-use tool. The company puts a lot of effort to ease the integration process and reinforce the solution’s scalability. In particular, the company’s experts have elaborated PROS Integrate Solution Guide to help users leverage various data resources and make sure the integration is done in the right and sustainable way.
The technology behind Price Optimization and Price Management solutions by PROS are powered by AI algorithms and advanced cloud infrastructure. The smooth integration process and support by the company belong to the most important benefits of the solution. In particular, the basic configurations can be rolled-out even with limited human and IT resources. The software interface is easy to get along with, so it doesn’t take too much time for the pricing team to learn using the product.
4. Zilliant
Zilliant is another highly-respected software vendor helping retail enterprises to reach their targets in ecommerce, pricing, and sales growth. The company offers various types of solutions that can be managed in an easy way through the single cloud-native platform. Today, Zilliant offers eight specific solutions for B2B companies: Price Management & Administration, Price Optimization, Deal & Agreement Management, Real-Time Market Pricing, eCommerce,
Predictive Sales Analytics, AI & Data Science, and Visual Analytics.
Speaking of Zilliant as a price optimizer software, several benefits are worth being outlined. First, it can help businesses to respond quickly to the changing market trends and consumer preferences. Second, Zilliant’s Price Optimization solution allows measuring price elasticities quite accurately. Third, using Zilliant’s solution, retailers can predict the way various pricing options would impact the revenue and margin metrics on the long-term periods. That’s how Zilliant helps to find and bring to life the optimal pricing scenarios.
The list of company’s clients includes such market giants as Valvoline, Metro, and Autopart International. Zilliant is headquartered in Austin (Texas, USA) and operates mainly in Europe and North America. The solution is definitely worth considering for those enterprises willing to make more data-driven decisions and minimize the impact of subjective human opinions.
5. Price Intelligently
Price Intelligently was founded in 2012 as a part of the ProfitWell group. As a price optimizer software, Price Intelligently is specialized in improving the businesses’ retention and monetization with the help of advanced data-driven intelligence. The company works with both B2B and B2C companies.
Price Intelligently works using a subscription model. Today, the company offers the four major suits of solutions: ProfitWell Metrics, ProfitWell Retain, ProfitWell Recognized, and Price Intelligently’s Monetize. The latter suite was developed to help businesses improve the monetization management policy by means of implementing continual price optimization practices.
The algorithm used by the vendor includes three main stages. First, the data from the group of targeted customers is collected. Second, the software quantifies the value based on findings. Third, the data-driven insights are generated enabling the business to adjust their pricing and sales strategies. Subsequently, Price Intelligently is a good option for those businesses willing to understand the market better and adjust their pricing policy accordingly.
Conclusion
Before the COVID-19 outbreak, it was tough yet possible for some retailers to sustain their market share without implementing advanced price optimizer software. Now, when more and more players move online, the market competition gets tougher, and customers are eager to receive the best shopping experience, the old approaches are no longer relevant.
Making the right pricing decisions is remarkably important in terms of delivering the best value offering. What it means is that choosing the best price optimizer software becomes a crucial factor impacting the financial health and strategic sustainability of the retail enterprises.
About the Author
Yulia Beregovaya is a pricing expert with more than 10 years of experience in Marketing Research and Analytics. Currently she is focused on building customized pricing solutions for retail enterprises.
