Retailers are lacking the confidence that their pricing strategies are meeting the needs and wants of consumers. According to RSR’s “Pricing 2016: Life Becomes Unmanageable,” benchmark report, “this year’s main benchmark finding: pricing practices simply aren’t effective and the race to the bottom is claiming more victims than proclaimed winners. And retailers know it.”*
Consumers are concerned that retailers aren’t priced competitively enough. Retailers are feeling the pressure. Less than half of retailers studied felt their pricing strategies have built customer loyalty. Merely 23% of retailers felt their pricing strategies are effective at driving bottom line results.*
So what is preventing retailers from adjusting their pricing strategies? 41% of retailers cite the lack of IT resources available to implement pricing practices. This is followed, at 38% of retailers studied, by a lack of purchase data, competitor, and purchase data. It’s time for retailers to take notice. As RSR’s Paula Rosenblum puts it, “Retailers are now starting to feel the negative impacts of their past pricing decisions. Consumers may be sensitive about price, but no retailer, not even the lowest-priced retailer, can win on price forever.
