ChannelEngine: repricer v2 and reprice exclusion rules

About this article

This article describes repricer and reprice exclusion rules on ChannelEngine, how to configure them and when to use them.

Table of contents

Introduction

Prerequisites

Limitations

Requirements

Repricer strategies

How repricer works

Reprice exclusion rules

Top products

FAQs

Introduction

You can use ChannelEngine’s repricer to automatically adjust your prices for the marketplace. ChannelEngine tweaks your prices based on your selected strategy, and you can apply reprice exclusion rules to configure any needed exceptions.

Prerequisites

If you currently use pricing v1, you must activate pricing v2 before proceeding.

1. Reach out to your ChannelEngine contact to activate Product pricing v2 setting.
2. Once activated, go to the Setup page of the channel and locate the New beta pricing setting. The options are:
   • Fully activated - adds the new pricing tabs and removes the pricing v1 tabs. This option is recommended for a go-live with the feature.
   • Only screens for configuration - adds the new pricing tabs while keeping the pricing v1 tabs. This option is recommended for migration as it allows you to compare the old and new pricing setups.
   • Off - pricing v2 is disabled.

Limitations

Used/refurbished products

Although it is possible to use the repricer on products that have multiple conditions, it depends on how the product is configured on ChannelEngine. If you sell a product with multiple conditions, each with a different SKU, but linked to a single GTIN, repricing is not supported. However, if each condition of your product is linked to a different identifier, ChannelEngine can retrieve the related competition data for each condition – and repricing is supported.

No competition data

ChannelEngine’s repricer adjusts prices based on competition data from marketplaces. Marketplaces like Amazon, bol, Cdiscount, and certain Mirakl-based marketplaces (e.g., Blokker, ePRICE, fonQ) 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: repricer competition history.

Buy box eligibility

The requirements that make a merchant 'buy box eligible' vary per marketplace, and each marketplace has their 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 the repricer on Amazon, you need to be among the top 20 merchants selling the products you add to the repricer. If you are not among the top 20, ChannelEngine will gradually lower your price until you reach that position.

Requirements

To use ChannelEngine's repricer, make sure the following requirements are met:

• The marketplace must support repricing and provide competition data.
• 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 Base price and Min. price fields configured on the Price rules tab.
• The product must have a repricer strategy selected.

Repricer strategies

To select a repricer strategy, go to Mappings, Offer mappings, and locate the Repricer strategy attribute. The options are:

• Offensive - drop the price until your product reaches the buy box. Once it does, gradually increase the price to maximize your profit margin. In this strategy, your price can go lower than the competitor's lowest price.
• Defensive - drop 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, repricer does not necessarily try to win the buy box but rather adjust the price according to other competitors.
• Base price - repricing does not take place. ChannelEngine compares your Base price and minimum price and exports the highest of the values.

How repricer works

By setting up your price mappings on the Price rules tab, you give ChannelEngine the input for the price attributes expected by the marketplace. ChannelEngine then uses these values to calculate the optimal price.

It does so by comparing your prices with those of your competitors’ and adjusting your price value to get the buy box. It is important to note that by doing so, 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 on the Price rules page. 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

Using reprice exclusion rules, you can create exceptions to the repricer strategies to tackle specific competitors. For example, you can set up rules to not compete with the marketplace itself.

Similar to price rules, you can 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:

1. In the Reprice exclusion rules section, click Add rule.
2. 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.
3. Set up the AND statement. Choose the condition for the exception.
   • The competitor must be a buy box winner.
   • The competitor does not have to be a buy box winner.
   • The condition is always applied whether the competitor is a buy box winner or not.
4. 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.
5. 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'.
6. Provide an appropriate name for the reprice exclusion rule, and click Save.

Reprice exclusion rule example

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, you want to exactly match the price value bol sets for your products, and not go above or below it.

Product selection level

If you want to create an override, you can do so for a specific product selection. In the Product selection price overrides section, select Add product selection, and go through the exact same steps to create a reprice exclusion rule. Make sure to use a descriptive name for the rule if you have several product selections, so you can easily see which selection it applies to.

Top products

In the top right corner, click Top products. Here is an overview of the top products scheduled for repricing. You can set up a list of products that are of priority for you. For those products ChannelEngine fetches competition prices more frequently, so your products can be repriced quicker. The maximum number of products scheduled for a more frequent repricing is 50.

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.

FAQs

What happens if no maximum price is set for a product? How high can the price increase within the repricer?

The maximum price a product can reach depends on both the repricer strategy you select and the marketplace's logic. Some marketplaces, like bol and Amazon, may remove your product listing if the price is too high. In these cases, ChannelEngine gradually reduces the price until the product is relisted.

On bol, apart from the regular Max. price, you can set a price star level as your maximum price to prevent the price from exceeding a specified limit. This can be done through the Max. bound field on the Price rules tab.

How often are prices updated for each repricer strategy?

The frequency of price updates is not determined by the selected strategy. Instead, it depends on the following factors:

• How often ChannelEngine exports product offers to the marketplace. Typically, this happens every 15 minutes.
• How often ChannelEngine imports buy box and competition statistics from the marketplace. Typically, this happens every 15 minutes. However, this frequency may vary based on the number of API calls allowed by the marketplace and any limitations on the number of products included in each call.
• Whether the product is included to the top products. For those products, ChannelEngine fetches competition statistics more frequently. 

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.