5 Common Price Monitoring Mistakes

According to the 2024 YouGov survey, competitive pricing is the most critical factor influencing customers‘ choice of retailer. Aggressive competition makes it imperative for retailers and brands to avoid common price-monitoring mistakes.

A reliable price monitoring solution provider can help businesses understand the competitive landscape of the selected product category and experiment with e-commerce pricing strategies.

Let’s examine the most common mistakes companies encounter when choosing a price-monitoring solution.

Mistake #1: Not Defining Goals Before Initiating Price Monitoring

Businesses should be clear about the purpose of using price monitoring solutions.

Is price monitoring done to achieve a competitive edge, maximize profits, increase market share, or plan a pricing strategy?

Having answers to such questions aids businesses in deciding on an optimal price for their products while maintaining a healthy profit margin.

Mistake #2: Not Choosing a Reliable Analytics Provider

Manual price checks are resource-intensive and prone to human errors. For brands with large-scale operations and many competitors, automating the price monitoring process is a better option to achieve efficiency.

Drawbacks of not using a dependable digital shelf price monitoring service provider:

• The app scalability may be an issue, leading to slow loading times and frequent crashes
• The data provided may be inaccurate leading to poor decision-making
• The dashboard may have limited options for setting pricing rules
• Slow refresh rates of the app may not lead to timely updation of the prices
• Ineffective customer service leads to unhappy brand managers and potential losses

Mistake #3: Pricing the Product Without Enough Research

One of the primary considerations companies should care for when determining a product’s promotional price is monitoring competitors’ pricing for similar products.

However, brands should not impulsively drop prices. Instead, they must weigh the pros and cons before reducing or increasing the price.

A price tracking solution should be able to:

• Swiftly provide the appropriate data to respond to market changes and alter the dynamic pricing
• Sort, filter, and group the product pricing based on selected retail channels, category-wise or brand-wise

Mistake #4: Not Monitoring Competitors Strategically

Consistently monitoring and comparing the pricing data of top competitors in a category helps businesses be aware of important changes in the competitive landscape. Moreover, brands can determine the price of goods to gain maximum advantage.

Instead of price monitoring every brand in a category, focusing on actionable data of top brands and matching their prices can prevent customers from flocking to competitors.

Mistake #5: Not Adapting to Rapid Market Changes

Quick adaptability is necessary to stay competitive in industries with aggressive competition and high volatility in trends and prices. Consumers of these products are sensitive to minor price changes, and the categories are prone to dynamic pricing.

Brands either increase their prices to capitalize on the surge in demand to maximize profits or offer deals to capture a significant market share.

Read more on the Role of Data-Driven Insights for Trade Promotion Optimization.

How Can MetricsCart Pricing and Promotion Monitoring Help?

As a reliable digital shelf service provider, MetricsCart safeguards businesses from price and promotion monitoring mistakes. The price changes can be seen on an easy-to-use dashboard.

• Our price monitoring practices comply with applicable laws and respect the privacy rights of competitors.
• We do real-time price monitoring at the SKU level for any number of brands in a category.
• Our clients receive customized pricing information across any digital channel where the brand and its competitors are present.
• We provide exclusive customized categorical data information that makes targeted marketing analysis easy.
• You can get ahead of competitors by leveraging competitor price monitoring mistakes, if any.
• We cater to customers’ needs by providing accurate and timely pricing information.
• Our clients are free to experiment with various pricing strategies or adjust the prices to balance competitive pricing and profitability, which is essential for long-term business growth.

We have proven our mettle in offering customized price monitoring services to popular businesses in the US at the best rate in the market. Contact us for a demo today.