Innovation And Technology Influence Retail Pricing Adoption of Price Optimization Software. Information management and supply chain management helped by technological advances have driven retailers’ costs down. In the 1990s, supply chain tools helped improve efficiencies in the flow of goods, but did not always ensure that retailers had the right merchandise in the right stores at the right price and at the right time. Retailers traditionally relied on rules-based pricing decisions, such as a percentage markup or seasonal pricing (see also chapter by Simon, Gathen, Daus in this book). More recently, retailers have embraced optimization methods, such as retail merchandise optimization, price optimization, retail revenue management. Price optimization software predicts demand for individual products based on historical price and sales data, competitive pricing, local demographics, inventory, and promotional data . Today, retailers are challenging traditional “rules” ...
