Latest Pricing Insights from PriceBeam

Inflation means that prices are changing. It also means that consumers and customers change their perceptions with it. At least some of the time, though not all the time. So in inflationary times and inflationary markets, it is important for vendors to stay up-to-date on their consumers' willingness-to-pay.

PriceBeam has recently done a series of consumer research studies, comparing willingness-to-pay for the same brands and products in 2022 against what it was in 2021. The learnings are important and carries implications for all revenue growth teams.

More companies than not increased prices in the past 12 months, reasons ranging from increases in input material costs to a general expectation that it was now easier as competitors raised their prices, and often the "market" (read: the customers) expected it due to high inflation. If not now, then never, seemed to be the sentiment. 

Many companies too price increases last year, as they watched raw material prices go up, or saw an opportunity to increase prices along with the rest of the market. So far in 2022, some companies increased (again) while some vendors are now asking themselves when market resistance will be too difficult to ignore. Surely, some customers or retail partners, e.g. Tesco in United Kingdom, have made some very public disputes with vendors whom they considered to be increasing their prices by too much.

At PriceBeam we work with a range of vendors around the globe, covering a variety of industries. Here are some considerations we see for the next 12 months when it comes to increasing prices further.

In these inflationary times many vendors ask themselves whether to increase their own prices or not, given what the market is doing. Of course, a straightforward price increase across the board can be a solution, but a better approach is to look for those consumers who are willing to pay more and then through market differentiation and product segmentation to differentiate the areas of the business that takes the price increase.