ChannelEngine: repricing v2
About this article
This article describes repricing and reprice exclusion rules when pricing v2 is activated on a channel.
Table of contents
- Product selection settings
- Reprice exclusion rule use cases
- Allow repricing above your maximum price
- Reprice exclusion rule examples
- Top products
Introduction
To automatically adjust your prices on a given marketplace, use ChannelEngine’s repricing. ChannelEngine tweaks your prices based on your selected pricing strategy. Apply reprice exclusion rules to configure exceptions to your pricing strategy.
Requirements
Pricing v2 is required to use this feature. Pricing v1 will be deprecated soon. If you currently use pricing v1, activate pricing v2 before you continue:
- In the Pricing step of a given channel, click Configuration mode to start configuring pricing v2 while pricing v1 stays active.
- When you are ready to fully switch to pricing v2, reach out to the Support team to activate pricing v2 on the respective channel(s).
To use ChannelEngine's repricing, make sure the following requirements are met:
- The marketplace must support repricing and provide competition data via its API.
- The product must have a stock level that is greater than zero (0).
- The product must be included in the product selection on the marketplace.
- The product’s price must have at least the Base price and Min. price fields configured in Pricing, Price rules.
- The product must have a repricer strategy selected.
Limitations
No competition data
ChannelEngine’s repricer adjusts prices based on competition data from marketplaces. Some marketplaces, including Amazon and Kaufland, provide the necessary competition data for repricing. However, many other marketplaces either do not support repricing or do not offer real-time competition data. To learn more about competition data, check out the article ChannelEngine: competitor history.
Buy box eligibility
The requirements that make a merchant 'buy box eligible' vary per marketplace, and each marketplace has its own algorithm giving more or less importance to each requirement. Common criteria include seller rating, on-time delivery, order defect rates, pre-order cancelation rates, competitive prices, customer service, geographic proximity to the buyer, and use of marketplace fulfillment services (e.g.: FBA, LVB). E.g.: to use repricing on Amazon, you need to be among the top 20 merchants selling the products you reprice. If you are not among the top 20, ChannelEngine will gradually lower your price until you reach that position.
Setup
On a channel that supports repricing, map two attributes in Mappings, Offer mappings:
- Repricer strategy
- Flip protection time
Then, configure your standard price offer in Pricing, Price rules.
Repricer strategy
To select a repricer strategy, go to Mappings, Offer mappings, and locate the Repricer strategy attribute. The following options are available:
- Offensive - drops the price until your product wins the buy box. Once the buy box is secured, gradually increases the price to maximize your profit margin. In this strategy, your price can go lower than the competitor's lowest price.
- Defensive - drops the price to move along with the competition. Your price will only go as low as the competitor’s lowest price, but not below it. If there is no competition, your price goes up. In this strategy, ChannelEngine does not necessarily try to win the buy box but rather adjusts the price according to other competitors.
- Aggressive [beta] - drops the price to your Min. price until your product wins the buy box. Once the buy box is secured, increases the price incrementally. Use this strategy for marketplaces that do not share buy box winner data via the API (e.g.: Mirakl-based channels like MediaMarkt Saturn).
- Base price - disables repricing. ChannelEngine compares your Base price and minimum price and exports the highest of the values.
Regardless of the selected strategy, the actual exported price never drops below the minimum price configured in Pricing, Price rules. If the price suggested by the repricer is lower than your minimum price, the exported price defaults to the minimum price.
Flip protection time
When you select the Offensive strategy, ChannelEngine gradually lowers your price to win the buy box. After winning the buy box, ChannelEngine raises the price in small increments to identify the maximum price point before the buy box is lost again. This cycle of lowering and raising the price repeats continuously.
You can set a flip protection time on ChannelEngine to prevent these price fluctuations and maintain the buy box. Specify the amount of time you want ChannelEngine to keep your price steady after winning the buy box.
To set the flip protection time, go to Mappings, Offer mappings, and locate the Flip protection time attribute. In the dropdown menu, select how long you want to freeze your product's price for after winning the buy box.
Price rules
Map the basic price attributes that the marketplace expects in Pricing, Price rules. ChannelEngine then uses these values to calculate the optimal price.
The repricing engine compares your prices with those of your competitors and adjusts your price value to win the buy box.
ChannelEngine stays within your specified price range, finding the perfect price between the minimum and maximum price points. That is why it is crucial to provide ChanneEngine with as many important inputs as possible in Price rules. E.g.: if your supplier dictates the minimum price, make sure to set up the Min. commercial price.
To learn more about price mapping and price rules, check out the article ChannelEngine: price rules v2.
Reprice exclusion rules
Use reprice exclusion rules to create exceptions to your overall repricer strategies and target specific competitors. E.g.: set up rules to not compete directly with the marketplace itself.
Note that the repricer checks reprice exclusion rules before executing the main repricer strategy. If a rule's condition is met, the repricer ignores your standard strategy (e.g.: Offensive) and applies the specific price defined in the rule. Therefore, setting reprice exclusion rules may prevent the repricer from performing optimally.
Similar to price rules, apply reprice exclusion rules on two levels:
- Default - applies to all products on the channel.
- Product selection - applies to a specific product selection on the channel.
Default level
To add a reprice exclusion rule:
- In the Reprice exclusion rules section, click Add rule.
- In the Reprice exclusion rule setup section, set up the IF statement. Enter the ID of the competitor or search for it by clicking Browse. To select yourself as a competitor, click Add self.
- Set up the AND statement. Choose the condition for the exception. Note that available conditions vary by channel.
- Is buy box winner - if the competitor holds the buy box.
- Is not buy box winner - if the competitor does not hold the buy box.
- Always - if the competitor actively sells, regardless of their price.
- Is only seller - if there are no competitors; you are the only seller.
- Has lowest offer - if the competitor offers the lowest price.
- Does not have the lowest offer - if the competitor does not offer the lowest price.
- Set up the USE statement. Select the price to use with the selected competitor. Options are:
- Cheapest competitor - match the price of the cheapest competitor.
- Base price - use your base price.
- Seller price - match the price of the competitor you selected in the IF statement.
- Max. price - use your maximum price.
- Price boundary - set the price boundary as dictated by the marketplace. For bol, this is related to price stars.
- Set up the CALC statement if you need to modify the price value. Add or subtract a certain amount, or multiply or divide by a certain number. E.g.: to add 5% to the price, choose the multiplication sign (×) and set the value to '1.05'.
- Provide an appropriate name for the reprice exclusion rule, and click Save.
You can create multiple rules for different competitors, but ChannelEngine only applies one rule at a time. The rules are applied from top to bottom; therefore, prioritize the rules in order of importance. If a given rule’s condition cannot be met (e.g.: the competitor is out of stock), ChannelEngine applies the second rule, and so on.
Product selection settings
Set repricing rules for specific product selections in Reprice exclusion rules, Product selection price overrides. Select Add product selection, and follow the same steps that you followed to create a reprice exclusion rule. Make sure to use a descriptive name for the rule if you have several product selections so that you can easily see which selection it applies to.
Reprice exclusion rule use cases
Common use cases for reprice exclusion rules include:
- Avoid competing with the marketplace. If the marketplace itself is the buy box winner, you might want to set your price relative to the marketplace's price (i.e.: Seller price) plus a specific amount. Once the marketplace sells through its stock, you can compete with a more favorable price.
- Maximize profit as the only seller. If no other competitors are on the listing, you might want to apply the Is only seller condition and set your price to its maximum to increase your margin.
- Undercut the cheapest competitor. If you do not hold the buy box, you might want to target the lowest competitor’s price (i.e.: Cheapest competitor) and subtract a certain amount to increase your chances of winning the buy box.
Allow repricing above your maximum price
By default, the repricer is programmed to operate within your configured price limits – it does not drop below your minimum price or exceed your maximum price. However, you can allow the repricer to override your maximum price limit and export a higher price on select channels.
For example, if you sell on Amazon, you may be required to match or exceed Amazon's price on the same product that you offer. To achieve this, you can configure a reprice exclusion rule that specifies that when Amazon holds the buy box, your price matches its price plus an additional amount. If Amazon already matches your maximum price, you must explicitly configure the rule to exceed your maximum price, to prevent the repricer from capping the exported price at your maximum limit.
To allow the reprice exclusion rule to exceed your maximum price (available on select channels):
- Go to Mappings, Offer mappings.
- Locate the Allow reprice exclusion rule above Max. price attribute.
- Set its value to true.
Example
- Your Max. price: 39.99 EUR
- Your Base price: 35.99 EUR
Your Min. price: 29.00 EUR
- Exported price (with the attribute set to true): 41.99 EUR
- Exported price (with the attribute set to false): 39.99 EUR
Reprice exclusion rule examples
Example #1
In this example, if the competitor is Amazon, the exported price is always going to match that of Amazon plus one GBP.
Example #2
In this example, we create two reprice exclusion rules. The first one dictates that as long as bol is a buy box winner, your price should be set to Base price, which is your regular selling price. Meaning, you choose not to compete with bol. However, if bol is not a buy box winner, ChannelEngine applies the second rule.
The second rule dictates that if bol is not a buy box winner, your price corresponds to the price boundary set by bol for the selected rating, i.e.: 5 stars, meaning that you want to exactly match the price value that bol sets for your products and not go above or below it.
Top products
To view an overview of the top products scheduled for repricing, click Top products in the top right of the Reprice exclusion rules tab. For those products, ChannelEngine retrieves competition prices more frequently so that your products are repriced more quickly.
Set up a list of products that are of priority for you. To add a product, enter its name, GTIN, or Merchant product number in the search bar. For bulk addition, click Paste list and paste a list of Merchant product numbers. The maximum number of products scheduled for more frequent repricing is 50.
Used/refurbished products
On channels that support refurbished product listings and repricing, including bol, Amazon, and Mirakl-based channels that support repricing, such as MediaMarkt Saturn, ChannelEngine treats each product condition as a separate offer.
ChannelEngine's repricer then retrieves competition data per condition, placing your product in the same context as competitor products that have the same condition, e.g.: Very good vs. Very good and Like new vs. Like new.
Interactive demos
Learn how to set up your brand and products for success by clicking through the interactive demos below.
Reprice rules
Learn how automatic repricing helps maintain competitive listings.
Reprice exclusion rules
Learn how to exclude certain competitors or products from your repricing strategy.
FAQs
What happens if I set the price boundary in the reprice exclusion rule that is outside my minimum or maximum price range?
If the price boundary is higher than your maximum price, ChannelEngine applies your maximum price instead. If the boundary is lower than your minimum price, ChannelEngine applies your minimum price instead.
What is the Top products tab under Pricing?
In Top products, you set up a list of products that are important for you. For those products, ChannelEngine retrieves competition pricing more frequently, resulting in faster repricing.
If no Max. price is set, how far will the price go up? What is this dependent on?
This depends both on the repricer strategy that you use and the given channel. If an offer goes offline because your price is too high, the repricer pushes the price back down. For bol, you can set up a certain price star level as a maximum price to make sure the repricer does not go higher than that.
For the defensive strategy, what happens if the competitor with the lowest price stops competing/is out of stock?
For the defensive strategy, the basis is always the base price. If there is no competition, the repricer falls back to the base price.
For the defensive strategy, what happens if the competitor with the lowest price increases its price?
The repricer increases the price to match that of the competitor with the lowest price.
Does the repricer decreases the price gradually, or will you always see your Min. price or Base price in your offer?
The repricer decreases the price gradually but never below the minimum price.
How does the offensive strategy work?
With an offensive strategy, the repricer tries to win the buy box from the competitor, within the limits that you specify, i.e.: Min. price and Max price.
What if I select a bol price boundary in the Reprice exclusion rules, and this price is higher than my Max. price?
The Max price is used instead. This happens because among your maximum prices (Max. bound, Max. price, Max. commercial price) configured in Price rules, the lowest value is considered as your final maximum price.
What if I select a bol price boundary under the Reprice exclusion rules, and this price is lower than my Min. price?
The Min. price is used instead. This happens because among all of your minimum prices (Min. bound, Min. price, Min. commercial price) configured in Price rules, the highest value is considered as your final minimum price.
How often are prices changed with each strategy?
How often prices change depends on multiple factors, including:
- How often the price is exported to the marketplace, typically every 15 minutes.
- How frequently the buy box and competition prices are imported from the marketplace, typically every 15 minutes.
- How often the product is sold. Products that are sold often are checked more often.
If I set up a rule by enabling the Modify price value toggle and set the rule at one Euro above the Seller price, does my price always change as the Seller price changes?
Yes, as soon as ChannelEngine receives the competitor price update, the price is adjusted with the next offer export.
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