Pricing Intelligence Solution Debuts

Metreo rolls out analytics application designed to measure pricing performance of products, customers and channels

Metreo rolls out analytics application designed to measure pricing performance of products, customers and channels

Palo Alto, CA — December 10, 2004 — Price optimization specialist Metreo this week released the latest component of its flagship Smart Pricing Suite, adding a "pricing intelligence" application designed to offer pricing-specific analytics to manufacturing and distribution companies who want to measure the pricing performance of products, customers and channels.

Metreo distinguished its new Vision solution from conventional business intelligence tools that offer "generic" reporting and charting capabilities. Vision is intended to transform invoice data into insights on otherwise unidentifiable pricing trends and the underlying drivers, the solution provider said.

"Vision takes the guesswork out of pricing analysis by illuminating the optimal course of action for maximizing revenue and profit potential," Metreo said in announcing the new solution.

"Today's business leaders are under constant pressure to grow profits without making tradeoffs in revenue growth or market share," said Daphne Carmeli, CEO and co-founder of Metreo. "With Metreo Vision, we have created a pricing intelligence solution that allows manufacturers and distributors to determine pricing that balances sales volume and profitability in a matter of hours, rather than the days and weeks it used to take."

For many businesses, the greatest barrier to rigorous, profit-maximized pricing has been an inability to consolidate and clarify insights from their pricing data and analysis. Metreo said that Vision delivers guidance for making the most informed decisions on the issues that pricing managers and salespeople need to determine every day.

The solution is comprised of interactive charts that enable users to recognize where margins are won or lost, including widely recognized views such as the waterfall analysis (graphical view of cost accounting data), Metreo said. Behind-the-scenes analytics interpret what the various charts mean and provide suggestions for actions based on the user's business objectives, according to the solution provider.

"By utilizing Metreo Vision companies can avoid unprofitable deals and make decisions that result in better pricing," the provider said, adding that Vision's recommendations can help companies take measurable action to improve margins and revenues. The product identifies non-performing products and provides guidance for re-pricing or eliminating underperformers.

In addition, Vision helps companies focus on the most profitable customers and offers suggestions for improving margins from less profitable customers. Metreo also offers insight into the cost of doing business. For example, some regions or sales channels may be more profitable than others. With this level of information, executives can make decisions about where to invest resources or refocus company expenditures to support profitable sales, according to the solution provider.

Vision is available now and is currently in production with its first Fortune 500 manufacturer that has used it to pinpoint over $20 million in untapped revenue and margin potential in the first quarter after its 39-day deployment, according to Metreo.

Other components of Metreo's Smart Pricing Suite include Target, designed to ensure that, for each segment, prices are set in a way that balances price competitiveness with profit objectives and customer willingness to pay; and Response, which helps ensure that company sales representatives understand and respect the guidelines they need to follow in pricing each transaction so that they are focused on winning the right types of customers.

Metreo's customer base includes such companies as Eaton Corp., Essex Electric, Hewlett Packard, Honeywell and Owens Corning.

For more information on price optimization solutions from both the buy- and sell-side perspectives, see the two-part series "Finding the 'Right' Price" in the July 2001 (sell-side) and August 2001 (buy-side) issues of iSource Business (now Supply & Demand Chain Executive) magazine.
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