Pricing is evolving. But for many teams, the tools and governance haven’t caught up.
That was the overriding theme at SR2’s recent Pricing Roundtable in Munich last month, where ecommerce leaders, pricing specialists, and consultants came together to swap insights, share frustrations, and unpack the future of pricing strategy.
Held in a focused two-hour format followed by rooftop networking, the event featured punchy demos, real-world case studies, and honest reflections from some of Germany’s most experienced pricing minds.
Here’s what we learned.
Common Challenges Shared
Despite the variation in industries and tooling, one thing quickly became clear: the pain points in pricing are remarkably consistent.
Only 1 in 10 attendees felt satisfied with their current pricing strategy.
And most believed revenue is being left on the table due to underdeveloped pricing functions or unreliable data foundations.
Some key challenges shared:
- Post-system change data degradation: Yola spoke candidly about the drop in data quality after a system overhaul, which made it difficult to act on pricing insights, even with multiple tools in place.
- Cannibalisation concerns: Elisa raised a key tension many are grappling with – how to run effective optimisation strategies without inadvertently hurting performance elsewhere in the product range.
- Tooling reluctance and Excel dependence: As Markus from the Pricing Management Institute pointed out, Excel remains the de facto pricing tool for many. Fear of “giving their baby away” still hinders tech adoption.
- Governance and ownership gaps: Several attendees touched on internal uncertainty around who owns pricing and how to align long-term brand value with short-term commercial goals.
Hot Topics from the Group Discussion
After the demos, discussion opened up and it didn’t take long to surface some big-ticket questions:
- Elasticity has its limits: Especially in low-frequency environments, elasticity modelling can mislead more than it guides. Several attendees voiced concerns about data sparsity and overfitting.
- Daily pricing vs. campaign pricing: How can you reconcile steady-state pricing logic with campaign spikes like Black Friday, where customer behaviour drastically changes?
- Brand vs. revenue: There’s often a conflict between pricing for brand perception and pricing for commercial impact. How can algorithms be designed to honour both?
- Tooling gaps: One attendee asked whether a tool exists to track and analyse competitor pricing specifically during Black Friday campaigns. It sparked a broader conversation about competitive intelligence gaps.
- Cross-functional collaboration: Many felt there’s still too much distance between pricing teams and marketing – especially when it comes to campaign planning and aligning on KPIs.
Different Teams, Same Friction Points
The roundtable brought together professionals from across ecommerce, tech, and consultancy. Yet, the patterns were strikingly similar. From the lack of clarity around ownership, to deep-rooted concerns around tooling, trust, and data quality, pricing leaders are all navigating similar operational hurdles.
But what also became clear: there’s a strong appetite to fix them.
We’ll be back soon with a sharper focus on pricing challenges by vertical – starting with B2B vs B2C dynamics in upcoming sessions.
📩 Want to be part of the next SR2 Pricing Roundtable? Contact Finlay Bright to learn more.
