Something struck me as I read through a PricingBrew Journal guide by Barrett Thompson:
B2B pricing has it pretty good.
In this guide, Barrett explores five critical differences between B2B and B2C pricing and discusses how those differences can be leveraged to a profitable success (or ignored to your detriment).
One key difference? Anonymity. Most B2C transactions happen anonymously with little ability to analyze or better understand individual customer behavior or understand the basics like:
- What was purchased?
- Who bought it?
- When did they purchase?
- How much did they pay?
- Who decided not to buy?
Having this kind of data can be a gold mine for a company—especially in aggregate. It’s the kind of insight that can help drive price segmentation, determine price sensitivity and ultimately help improve margins. It’s also that data that helps us better understand who the customer really is—their buying patterns, their product mix, their order frequency and their total spend.
And in B2B—unlike the B2C world–we often have that data on every single transaction. There’s no need for loyalty cards or targeted coupons or fancy promotions to get the fundamental data that can help make the business more profitable.
It’s a good reminder to take a step back and appreciate how much good we really have. It’s also a good reminder to be sure we’re leveraging that data as best we can.