Pricing: how to get ahead in a market that’s more challenging than ever
Christoph Petzoldt, Partner, Simon-Kucher

Pricing is something that can make or break a business, and is incredibly difficult to get right.In an environment where customers face cost pressure and competitors are often willing to price aggressively, it’s important to strike the correct balance, preserving or expanding margins. But setting the ‘right’ prices has become more difficult due to a mix of external and internalfactors. Externally, businesses are deploying increasingly more sophisticated procurement systems to drive their interactions with suppliers, focusing the sale on price, and reducing the ability of suppliers to sell on value. Equally, those selling to consumers are themselves are unde rpressure from increasingly bargain-conscious, promotion-driven buyers. Internally, multinationals often make pricing harder than it should be, with inconsistent strategies, particularly relating to discounting, and sales incentives that prejudice orderly pricing. So what is your approach to pricing? Is it value-based or cost-plus? Or is it too haphazard to deserve either of those titles? And, importantly, who has responsibility for ensuring a consistent approach? Christoph Petzoldt is a Partner at Simon-Kucher, regarded as the world’s leading pricing consultancy. He’ll lead a discussion looking at best practice in relation to pricing, and will also examine the specific issues facing multinational subsidiaries, where regional decisions must sit within the global pricing matrix.