Price matching strategy: Finding your competitors with the pricechecker match rate
In a retail industry, it is essential to keep a close watch on the competitors. There is a simple rule to determine the prices based on the competitors especially when the products are homogeneous.
Today's market is undoubtedly hyper competitive, there is a need for retailers to define and redefine their strategy on a regular basis. While retailers try various tactics like free shipping, enormous discounts, free gifts etc to stand out, price matching is an interesting technique in pricing.
In this article, we will explore the price matching technique in detail and discuss an exclusive feature of pricechecker to find the competitors using match rate. This is a prerequisite for any retailer before they hop onto any price comparison software.
There are many pricing methods that a retailer can use in a real business case but price matching is the safe bet for several reasons. This competitive pricing can help in aligning the best prices with business goals in the long run. According to a recent report from Thomson Reuters, 44 % of the customers preferred to shop during the festive season as they can compare prices across different retailers.
It is evident that the price check happens from the customers point of view. So this is the appropriate time for retail brands to offer the right prices to capture the market. In price matching, the companies simply match their products against their competitors and charge the lowest among them. This is the best way to assure any online visitor that they offer the best price and in this case they need not constantly change the prices.
Walmart has tested the EDLP (Every Day Low Price ) method wherein they quote the lowest price in the market. But low price is not the only way to bring price matching. Retailers can choose to fix the same price as their main competitors if they already have better branding and market penetration compared to the rest of the competitors.
Retailers usually set up rules to match their prices and stock with competitors, for instance, a company could choose not to lower prices when their main competitors are out of stock. This way they can retain the profit margin and yet not lose potential customers.
The success of price matching simply depends on the goals and rules set by the company. Sometimes, the businesses offer the price that was paid by the customers previously to up-sell and engage.
Technology to implement price matching
As easy as it sounds in theory, an application of price matching is in fact a tedious task for companies. Especially, in developed countries like the US and UK, the large scale retail companies facing tremendous competition with many products can lose out on many customers to their competitors.
This is where a technology integrated system comes into play to ensure the pricing game is intact. Price matching is not just about price comparison software, it offers the retailers to make meaningful decisions with advanced analytics required for the business growth.
Various price comparing sites provide the price changes of different products to the consumers. However, retailers need something more advanced to accurately track the prices of their competitors to match the price. To successfully implement price matching and reap the benefits, it is not just the price but all the stock and promotions that has to be monitored.
How does the price match rate work?
Like discussed earlier, setting a low price under price matching does not mean the retailer has to set the lowest of all. Practically, the competitors position in the market plays an important role in deciding how to go about this strategy.
Consider a case where a particular retailer has 20 competitors in the market. Out of these 20 competitors, only 6 competitors may actually have the same or similar products on their list. In decision-making, price comparison has to be focused on these 6 competitors. The remaining 14 competitors can be on watch but may not completely determine our pricing decision. This way the retailer is able to optimally use the price comparison software to their advantage by choosing the target competitors.
Choosing the right competitors is a step before actually monitoring the prices. With pricechecker, it is more customised as the software offers to check the match rate for the retailer before comparing prices. The match rate is checked by an expert team to shortlist the right competitors and then proceed with price matching and product tracking.
This enables the user to track and put efforts on competitors that matter to them. Price matching is incomplete without finding the match rate of competitors. While many price comparison softwares in the UK are available, pricechecker tailor makes rules to meet the business goals of the user.
Start matching your prices with pricechecker and find your competitors with accurate match rate. To learn more about the features contact@moonbow.co
