Need to keep an eye on what your competitors charge? Let software do the work for you.
Chances are you’ve looked on Amazon for a used book that didn’t seem to be anything particularly special. And yet, when you saw the price, you thought to yourself, “Am I in the wrong business?” It was hundreds. Maybe thousands.
In fact, in one case a book about the genetics of flies-you know, the things you swat at during the summer-led to a price duel between two sellers that ultimately reached tens of millions. Each of the two set a price that was a consistent multiple of the other. The result was the simple power of a geometric progression gone amuck. (Eventually the top price rose above $23 million, generating quite the internet buzz.)
This was a case of algorithmic pricing. A growing number of resellers have begun to use so-called repricing software to automatically set product prices based on what competitors are doing. Vendors such as Appeagle, FeedVisor, Mercent, Teikametrics, and SellerExpress all sell a version of the software. In the extreme, it can be silly. But when used with greater control, the results can be helpful.
…to read this article in full, visit leading US small business resource, Inc.
