26.12.12

13 Predictions on pricing in Europe from Pol Vanaerde

Wondering what will happen on the European pricing front over the next 12 months ? Pol Vanaerde, President of EPP shares some of his predictions with us.  


1. Dynamic pricing will be more actively used 

Online retailers, theaters, operas,  leisure parks, cinemas but also in industrial markets, dynamic pricing, based on improved insights in segmentation, will see increased implementation.

2. Consumers will gain increased access to online and real time prices

New digital apps, price comparison sites and governmental attention to price transparency,  will lead towards increased accurate price information for consumer-  and the need for increased multi-channel pricing control.

3. Pricing Maturity in European based organizations will get a boost

Organisations continue to invest in pricing know-how development, training and best practice sharing between EU pricing teams.  The need for pricing development programs will further increase.

4. There fight for pricing talent will accelerate

There will be more pricing vacancies than any previous year, resulting in a fight for talent.
Pricing managers operate more internationally (European) than ever before and experienced pricing managers are sought after to support the pricing maturity development.

5. Pricing Consultancy investments will further increase

Organisations developing their pricing maturity will search for experienced partners (see the EPP expert partner area) to guide them and help to avoid the classic pitfalls.

6. Investment in pricing software will further increase

As transactional control is the first step towards margin improvement projects, organizations will find increased benefit in trustworthy software partners (see the EPP Technology Expert area).

7. FMCG and Retail will increasingly focus on pricing effectiveness

Price pressure in retail and FMCG will force the players to invest in increased pricing technology and effectiveness analysis.

8. The words ‘margin improvement projects ‘ will be used more than ever before

Companies will risk increased price pressure, and be forced to install margin improvement projects to safeguard the PBIT.

9. Further EEC interventions in markets with dominant market players to install pricing fairness

The ECC will continue its monitoring in markets with dominant players (e.g. utilities, telecom, etc.) to safeguard pricing fairness principles.

10. Overcapacity in different industries will increase the threat of price wars

Different industries face structural overcapacity because of decreased governmental investments, economic hard times – and the accelerated investments in Asia in production capacity.  In these circumstances, avoiding price wars could be a priority setting in pricing goals.

11. New pricing/revenue models will be developed

New entrants and changing market rules will enforce organizations to find new pricing/revenue models : electric car industry, telecom, healthcare , etc. are examples where we can expect new pricing models next year.

12. From pricing products towards pricing solutions

More and more product companies will try to make the switch towards adding solutions. Organisations such as Philips and Samsung are ideal targets for adding solutions to their products. New technologies will make it easier to embed solutions and get ‘the keys to the customer’.  Pricing executives will have to go one step further and prepare to look at ways to price solutions to future customer needs (needs which the customer has not realised that he has yet, but that the organisation can anticipate on and sell based on their experience and foresight of their market).


13. Pricing will become more strategic than ever before !



We welcome your ideas and opinions, so feel free to share them with us.  You can do so by commenting on this post, or by dropping me an email at nicolene.barnard@pricingplatform.com

Wishing you a profitable New Year !
Pol, Nicolene, Britt & Jessie

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