Table A.12: Technology sophistication in Retail - Pricing

||**Manual Cost**|**Automated Markup**<br>**(Excel or similar)**|**Automated**<br>**Promo-**<br>**tional**|**Dynamic**<br>**Pricing**<br>**Systems**|**Personalized Pricing**<br>**driven by Predictive**<br>**Analytics**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Functionality**|Minimal features, rely-<br>ing entirely on manual<br>calculations and record-<br>keeping.|Provides<br>basic<br>au-<br>tomation<br>for<br>pricing<br>calculations,<br>applying<br>markups, and tracking<br>data using formulas and<br>templates.|Focuses<br>on<br>automat-<br>ing<br>promotional<br>pric-<br>ing based on predefned<br>rules, events, and sea-<br>sonal factors.|Utilizes AI to optimize<br>prices based on demand<br>prediction, competitive<br>analysis, and real-time<br>data.|Ofers<br>the<br>most<br>ad-<br>vanced features, includ-<br>ing personalized pricing<br>strategies based on cus-<br>tomer<br>behavior,<br>pref-<br>erences, and predictive<br>analytics.|
|**Integration**|No integration|Limited integration ca-<br>pabilities,<br>mainly<br>re-<br>quiring manual data im-<br>port/export.|Good integration with<br>sales, marketing, and e-<br>commerce platforms to<br>manage promotions ef-<br>ciently.|Integrates<br>well<br>with<br>market<br>data<br>sources<br>and<br>internal<br>business<br>systems<br>to<br>provide<br>comprehensive<br>pricing<br>strategies.|Integrates<br>seamlessly<br>with<br>various<br>data<br>sources,<br>CRM<br>sys-<br>tems, and e-commerce<br>platforms<br>to<br>gather<br>comprehensive<br>cus-<br>tomer data.|
|**Automation**|No automation, entirely<br>dependent on human la-<br>bor.|Some<br>automation<br>through formulas, but<br>signifcant<br>manual<br>ef-<br>fort is required for data<br>entry and maintenance.|Automates promotional<br>pricing<br>adjustments,<br>but typically based on<br>predefned<br>schedules<br>and rules rather than<br>real-time data.|Automated<br>price<br>ad-<br>justments based on real-<br>time<br>data<br>and<br>algo-<br>rithms, requiring min-<br>imal manual interven-<br>tion.|Highly automated, us-<br>ing machine learning al-<br>gorithms to adjust pric-<br>ing dynamically in real-<br>time based on predic-<br>tive<br>models<br>and<br>cus-<br>tomer data.|
|**Rank**|5|4|3|2|1|
|**Reason for Ranking**|Lowest<br>sophistication<br>due to the absence of<br>automation<br>and<br>inte-<br>gration, relying entirely<br>on manual calculations.|Lower<br>sophistication<br>with basic automation<br>and limited integration,<br>relying heavily on man-<br>ual processes for data<br>management.|Moderate<br>sophisti-<br>cation<br>with<br>strong<br>promotional<br>features<br>but<br>limited<br>real-time<br>automation<br>and<br>in-<br>tegration<br>compared<br>to<br>dynamic<br>pricing<br>systems.|High<br>sophistication<br>with strong automation<br>and<br>integration,<br>opti-<br>mizing prices based on<br>real-time data and AI<br>algorithms.|Highest<br>sophistication<br>due to advanced per-<br>sonalization,<br>seamless<br>integration with multi-<br>ple platforms, and full<br>automation using AI.|
|**Technology**<br>**Exam-**<br>**ples**|Pen and Paper|Microsoft Excel, Google<br>Sheets, QuickBooks|Salesforce<br>CPQ,<br>SAP<br>Hybris, Shopify Plus|PROS<br>Pricing,<br>Dy-<br>namic<br>Pricing<br>by<br>Prisync,<br>RepricerEx-<br>press|Dynamic Yield, Zilliant,<br>Adobe Target|
|**Cost**|Minimal to None|$160/year<br>(Ofce),<br>Free<br>to<br>$12/month,<br>$25/month|$75/user/month,<br>Custom<br>pricing,<br>$2000/month|Custom<br>pricing,<br>$59/month, $55/month|Custom pricing|
|**Launch Year**|Pre-digital|1983 - 2006|1997 - 2006|1985 - 2014|1999 - 2011|
|**ChatGPT ranking**|1|2.5|3|4|5|
|**Estimated time in a**<br>**task**|8 hours|4 hours|2 hours|1 hour|2 hours|

Source: The table draws upon various sources of information including desk research, and websites of companies like Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, SAP, Adobe, PROS, and RepricerExpress. *CHATGPT estimates the time for setting seasonal discount pricing for a product line, following similar characteristics of a given firm. The prompt for these estimates and CHATGPT ranking is available in the appendix.