OPERATIONAL AND MARKET DIFFICULTIES
Achieving these goals presented significant hurdles. The project was unbudgeted, necessitating a rapid return on investment, ideally within 12 months. 

 

Operationally, their existing pricing process was severely inefficient. Sales reps manually managed pricing for 50-100 accounts each, spending over five hours weekly on key accounts while neglecting others. Less experienced reps lacked price guidance, and aligning pricing across chains or groups required tedious manual effort. Manual price adjustments for promotions or inventory closeouts, often via ad-hoc emails, further burdened both reps and managers. 

 

Margin management and price execution were equally challenging. Weekly cost fluctuations in key categories like protein and dairy demanded more frequent pricing adjustments. Their cost-plus pricing method failed to account for customer behavior, price tolerance, or market trends. Critical data was fragmented across disparate sources, making analysis and large-scale price changes nearly impossible, especially across chains. 

 

The solution also had to navigate specific constraints: 

• Integration with an aging ERP system was essential. 
• Unlimited customer self-shopping required a market-aligned price for 15 million unique item/customer combinations weekly. 
• Reps needed to maintain override capabilities for special agreements. 
• Prices had to dynamically adjust with cost changes (unless contracted). 
• Finally, the project demanded rapid delivery – less than three months for an ROI within six months – with a phased rollout to minimize risk and without introducing reps to an entirely new system. 

"Price optimization isn't just a marketing tactic; it's a fundamental pillar of sustainable profitability. As a financial officer, I see it as our duty to ensure every price point isn't merely competitive, but strategically aligned to deliver maximum value, fuel growth, and secure our long-term financial health."

SWIFT IMPLEMENTATION, POWERFUL RESULTS 

Our approach focused on a rapid, yet meticulous, delivery process to ensure immediate value and sustained success for the client. 

 

SOLUTION PROCESS: PRECISION AND PACE 

Our engagement kicked off with a 4-week pricing analysis and data validation project. This foundational work delivered a data-driven projected financial impact, which we presented to the Executive Leadership Team and Board, ensuring accountability for the project's ambitious goals. This initial phase also provided a recommended phasing strategy for customer groups and categories, highlighted key process improvement opportunities through automation (like promotional pricing and chain consistency), and outlined a detailed integration plan with their existing ERP. 

 

The design and configuration phase then translated these insights into a powerful solution: 

• A detailed design was documented, defining the goals, parameters, and constraints for the pricing output. 
• A new process was engineered to free up sales reps and managers, allowing them to spend more time with customers. 
• We automated all core input feeds, ensuring the system always had the most current data. 
• The system was configured to provide an optimized, customer and product-specific price for every item, dynamically adjusting for costs and constraints. 
• Automated, scheduled updates flowed directly into the transactional system, while flexible exports allowed reps to maintain crucial overrides for volatile commodities when necessary. 

 

ENABLEMENT AND PHASED DELIVERY: SMOOTH TRANSITION, MAXIMIZED ADOPTION 

A key to success was thorough Enablement. We prepared reps for the changes, explaining not just what would be different, but why they should trust the new data-driven recommendations. 

 

Our phased delivery minimized risk and ensured high adoption: 

• We started with live prices for a subset of reps and categories to meticulously validate the integration. This allowed us to confirm price acceptance, rep adoption, margin enhancement, and minimal account disruption before scaling up. 
• The large-scale rollout was then completed with remarkable speed in just two months, bringing the total project duration to five months. This rapid expansion was efficiently phased over a nine-week period, ensuring a smooth transition for all stakeholders. 

 

TRANSFORMATIVE IMPACT: DRIVING GROWTH AND EFFICIENCY 

The implementation of priceflo™ delivered immediate and measurable benefits, fundamentally reshaping the client's pricing strategy and market position. Our solution not only achieved ambitious financial targets but also empowered the sales team, enhanced operational efficiency, and solidified the client's competitive advantage. 

 

QUANTIFIABLE SUCCESS 

• Significant Margin & Revenue Growth: The client saw over 100 basis points in margin improvement and a 50% reduction in customer churn. They exceeded their one-year margin dollar growth target in just nine months, alongside a 400% surge in new item sales in existing accounts due to improved market alignment. 
• Boosted Sales Efficiency: Sales reps cut their weekly pricing time by 50%, enabling them to focus on customer engagement. 
• Improved Pricing Alignment: The system automated strategic pricing adjustments, eliminating previous manual interventions. 

 

STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL ADVANTAGES 

• Minimal Disruption & Seamless Integration: Reps experienced no change to their ERP, simply seeing a "smarter" price column. The system proved robust, requiring no changes even during the company's acquisition, earning it the label "the most solid system." 
• Unmatched Process Resiliency: The pricing process achieved 100% stability with no reported failures. 
• Reduced Total Cost of Ownership: Implemented in just three months, the project immediately freed up sales reps from managing complex pricing tasks, delivering rapid ROI. 

 

priceflo™ empowered the client with data-driven strategic decision-making, fostered a more agile market approach, and secured a lasting competitive advantage.