Pricing from the trenches: The evolution of pricing practice in a home improvement retailer

With intense pressure on margins arising from the twin attack of rising costs and suppressed demand, it is still surprising to see only a small number of retailers using price as a powerful tool to reach their operational and strategic goals. This article sets out the practical principles used in the author's time leading the Pricing Team in a leading Home Improvement retailer to manage prices over a 5‐year period. It charts the progress from a manual approach through to price optimisation and describes the organisational challenges on route. This article is written to detail the practical techniques used and their applications and provides thoughts on how to nurture and grow a pricing programme learning from challenges faced from within the organisation.