3 eCommerce Pricing Tips Every Foodservice Distributor Needs to Know

US Foods, Sysco, Crook Brothers – these are just a few of the major foodservice distribution companies that have made significant investments in eCommerce. As this trend continues an upward trajectory, pricing is critical to fostering a meaningful customer experience online. In this blog, we’ll detail three pricing tips foodservice distributors can leverage for sustained eCommerce success.

Ensure Consistent Pricing

Customers expect a consistent pricing experience regardless of channel. If the price received directly from a sales rep over the phone is vastly different than the price in an eCommerce portal, that’s a major problem. Inconsistent pricing that fails to meet the buyer’s expectations will surely drive customers and prospects to competitors. Additionally, existing customers need to be able to see their customer-specific price online, even if a discount is involved. 

A flexible price management application can ensure consistent, relevant and market-aligned pricing across all channels by automatically delivering updated prices to any ERP, CRM, CPQ or eCommerce system. It can also differentiate eCommerce pricing for existing customers and new visitors at the product level with personalized or targeted customer discounts.

Let Analytics Inform Digital Pricing Strategy

Website and inventory analytics are extremely valuable and present pricing teams with opportunities. Some data points and subsequent considerations include:

• Cart abandonment: Incorporate an eCommerce-specific discount or other promotion to motivate completion of a transaction in the online cart or trigger a follow-up action for sales. 
• Pageviews: For pages with many views and a high bounce rate, does the price need to be better aligned to expectations? 
• Conversions: What are your hot spots, and is conversion aligning to that attention?
• Inventory availability: Can a targeted discounting strategy help move inventory?

These insights can be used to better inform pricing strategies and deliver personalized eCommerce pricing.

Leverage the Power of Automated Negotiation

Foodservice distributors can take the concept of B2B eCommerce pricing to the next level by automating negotiation processes through a digital customer portal. The traditional process of requesting a discount from a sales rep, and that rep going back to get approval or counter-negotiation guidance is extremely high-touch. It’s time-consuming for the seller and inconvenient for the buyer. Customers now prefer self-service wherever possible.

Thus, automating pricing and negotiation is a competitive differentiator – if you don’t offer it, your buyers will find someone who does. This automated process streamlines the negotiation step through dynamic pricing software and a real-time pricing engine. The ability to do this at-scale changes the equation for pricing teams. Removing the human component from a significant number of quote reviews will undoubtedly accelerate quote turnaround time and allow teams to spend more time on bigger deals.