Only a couple of decades ago, Mom and Pop could stroll down Main Street to their competitor’s store and take a look around. If necessary, they could decide right then and there to lower prices as soon as they walked back their own store.
Alas, those slow-paced days are gone. For then came big-box stores, with their advanced strategies and their uber-competitive pricing. As a matter of fact, they very nearly put most Main Street stores out of business.
But now, a new age is upon us, the age of the small, competitive online business.
Just what is it, though, that can give these small online businesses—businesses like yours—such a tremendous edge?
It’s pricing intelligence, made possible by software capable of compiling and analyzing large amounts of data about your customers. Pricing intelligence can help you to achieve dynamic pricing. In this way you can quickly outpace your competitors.
What Is Pricing Intelligence?
Simply put, pricing intelligence is an ongoing practice whereby you use everything you can learn about your customers. Armed with this knowledge, you can make your online pricing more dynamic and therefore more competitive.
In order to make this practice work, you’ll need to invest in the latest software for this purpose. This article will let you in on the secrets. Why wait? Get started now with using pricing intelligence software. And take your online retail business to new heights.
Take Your Online Retail Business to the Next Level
Not only do online retailers need to be extremely professional in their retail doings, they also need to be proficient marketers, masters of social media and avid content creators. In other words, online retailers need to build a powerful web presence in order to succeed.
The article here describes the challenges that online retailers like you face every day and gives tips to help you show up powerfully online.
But as we’ve already discussed, a powerful online presence isn’t enough in today’s competitive landscape. You’re going to need a dynamic pricing strategy, too.
Advanced and affordable, the newest pricing intelligence software will allow your online retail business to succeed, even in cutthroat pricing wars.
Why Does Your Business Need Pricing Intelligence?
Armed only with their smartphones, your customers are able to compare your prices with those of dozens of your competitors almost instantly. At the same time, your competitors are fighting to provide the very best deals and win your customers away from you.
To make things even tougher for you, the bigger online stores use advanced algorithms to change their prices thousands of times each month. Amazon sometimes changes prices as often as every 10 minutes or so.
But that doesn’t mean that as a small online retailer you should throw in the towel.
As a matter of fact, the smaller and more streamlined your business is, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to outmaneuver your larger competitors, especially if you take advantage of pricing intelligence software.
Where to Find Pricing Intelligence Software
Retail price analytics software, such as that offered by Upstream Commerce, will analyze up to a year’s worth of data about your customers to evaluate and pinpoint pricing opportunities. Similar software is offered by CallidusCloud, Prysinc, and Competera Price Intelligence.
An investment in pricing intelligence software for your business could more than justify its cost over time. Using data collected from your customers’ shopping habits and their visits to your website, the best of these software packages will even spot developing trends. They compile and analyze all kinds of data about your customers. You can learn their favorite Beatles song, their age, their hair color, their politics, even they products they’ve been searching for online recently.
The knowledge you’ll gain from using such software will give your business flexibility and maneuverability in the marketplace.
For instance, you can segment your customer database and precisely market to different groups of customers. If you spot a trend, you can quickly respond. For example, you can drop your prices when you notice that a decrease in demand looms on the horizon. Conversely, you can raise your prices when you predict a rise in demand. This is a precarious balancing act that is usually impossible without the advanced insights that sophisticated software will give you.
The landscape is continually changing and there’s always more to learn. However, you can take steps today to place your business in line for greater success. Dynamic pricing made possible by the latest technologies can bring your online retail business greater success.