A few days before Christmas Eve, the Christmas business is booming. Stationary as in the net, consumers are on the lookout for gifts and always on the lookout for one or two bargains. The majority of German Internet users shop online, but expect prices to be lower than in stationary retail. The high price sensitivity of customers must therefore be taken into account if the result is to be accurate. The topics of pricing, repricing and price observation now more than ever require the attention of retailers and should by no means be left to chance.

According to a study by the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (Bitkom), the majority of German consumers with Internet access will be shopping online during this year’s Christmas season. For only 38 percent of consumers, online gift shopping is not an option. However, the majority (62 percent) buy presents for the festive season either partially (38 percent) or exclusively (24 percent) online. Accordingly, the German E-Commerce Association expects an excellent year 2015 in e-commerce, which should end with a substantial increase in sales of twelve percent.

Price Monitoring at Christmas more important than ever

But consumer expectations are also high. Where service aspects and the haptic impression are of particular importance to the customer at a fixed location, the German consumer perceives the Internet primarily as a particularly inexpensive source of supply. In the Bitkom study, price comparison is the most important argument for shopping in online retailing. For 74 percent of online shoppers, price is therefore the decisive reason for online shopping.

A well-known dilemma in online retailing. In competition, the lowest price guarantees the highest attention. But what is the bottom line? In the downward price spiral, the margin is regularly the first thing that jumps over the blade. Ruinous price wars are therefore no rarity on the net. But this does not have to be the case! Today, online trading has a whole arsenal of services at its disposal, with which price optimization based on valid data can be carried out reliably while largely maintaining the margin. One important instrument, for example, is reliable price monitoring. Knowing where your own top sellers are positioned in terms of price is the first step towards better results. Only if price observation makes your own position in the market visible can pricing and repricing be used effectively.

Buying online usually also means buying cheaply for the customer

The Price API of metoda provides the necessary data basis. It provides the online trade with real-time price and market data from international e-commerce and enables e-commerce to pursue a flexible price strategy adapted to the market and the competitive situation. The downward price spiral can thus be stopped as it develops, a timely exit planned or limited price attacks carried out.

If you combine tailor-made offers with optimal pricing by means of price observation, you will no longer be frightened off by the competition at Christmas.