
Five Trends Will Define the Future of Pricing
As executives become aware of the power of pricing strategy, their ability to generate long-term profits will depend on whether they resist, accept, or accelerate five trends.
Pricing is a potent lever for increasing profits and responding to change. BCG’s B2B pricing consulting experts help companies achieve quick wins while building a foundation for long-term success.
Pricing is the unsung hero of growth and resilience. It gets little buzz. Yet, companies that get pricing right extract the full value of their goods and services, respond faster to volatility, and deliver more revenue to the bottom line than those that don’t. Getting B2B pricing right means mastering an array of technical and human capabilities, because pricing isn’t only about data and algorithms. It’s also about embedding an agile, collaborative, test-and-learn culture. We guide companies on the journey from static to dynamic B2B pricing. But even more important, we enable them to steer their own course for the long term, so they can generate value quickly—time and again.
With the right B2B pricing strategies, companies align prices more closely with willingness to pay, generating value that otherwise would go untapped. And they adjust pricing—continually—in response to changes in markets and customer needs. Our B2B pricing consulting experts help companies deliver quick wins that fund the journey while building the capabilities that let them do even more—and keep on doing it. Our B2B pricing work is built upon three pillars.
Simplified, Future-Proof Pricing for a SaaS Platform. Our client, a leading provider of software as a service for enterprises, wanted to better monetize its solutions, manage discounting in a more rigorous way, and streamline its SaaS pricing processes. Our B2B pricing consulting experts reduced the number of pricing meters by 70% and replaced an outdated user-based pricing model with a two-tier transaction-based strategy that differentiated high-value offerings from high-volume offerings. We developed “better together” suites to accelerate enterprise adoption—and cross-selling. We brought advanced analytics into the discounted logic and integrated discount guidance into the client’s CPQ—configure, price, quote— system through our Pricing Catalyst solution.
The result: a 10% increase in annual contract value, and a 20% improvement in deal velocity.
Our B2B pricing consultants draw upon BCG’s global network of thought leaders—experts across industries and functions—to create the pricing strategy and the operating model that best fit a client’s needs. We also leverage some unique resources:
Advanced analytics and artificial intelligence are critical for B2B pricing, fueling such cutting-edge capabilities as dynamic pricing. Our pricing experts teamed with BCG X—our tech build and design unit—to develop Price.AI, our dynamic revenue management solution. The effort achieved the holy grail of B2B pricing: setting the right price for the right customer at the right time.
BCGs’ five pricing enablement centers—in Atlanta, Munich, Paris, San Francisco, and Singapore—provide upskilling, coaching, and guidance on best practices. They embed the behaviors and mindset that drive innovation and continuous improvement in B2B pricing.
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