Development of pricing service for multichannel efficiency

Tesco faced a big task: keeping product prices updated and consistent across all kinds of channels and store formats. Different locations and store types often meant different pricing and promotion needs, adding another layer of complexity.

A few years ago, Tesco moved from an Oracle stack to a custom solution to manage pricing more flexibly and affordably. But as the company grew, this solution began to show its limits. It needed to keep original product prices in check, consider other financial variables like inflation and specific pricing rules, all while being reliably available all the time due to its crucial role in the business.

The move towards more digitised retail brought additional challenges, like making sure the pricing system worked well with online platforms, managing a large amount of pricing and promotional data securely, keeping customer experience consistent across all platforms, and ensuring pricing decisions were in sync with inventory and logistics.

Weigandt Consulting, in partnership with Tesco, developed a custom tool called Price Service to address real-time pricing challenges across diverse store formats. This solution, chosen for its adaptability to various promotions and store types, was co-created leveraging Tesco's business insights and Weigandt's technical expertise.

Each component of the solution underwent rigorous testing to validate its functionality and its capability to withstand Tesco's demanding operational load.

Following a seamless iterative cutover, monitoring systems were put in place to identify and address any potential hiccups promptly, accompanied by clear guidelines to optimise the utilisation of the new tool.

Implementation involved constant communication and feedback loops ensuring accuracy and dependability, enabling real-time price updates, seamless integration with other systems, and enhanced decision-making. The focused effort on minimising errors led to a resilient pricing service, especially during peak times and unforeseen events, promoting an efficient, error-reduced pricing environment for Tesco.

The alliance between Weigandt Consulting and Tesco not only resulted in the creation of a robust Pricing Solution but laid a solid foundation for managing future data growth.

It also simplified the roll-out of new functionalities, thereby unlocking new shopping experiences at Tesco.

The implementation of Price Service has significantly improved Tesco's pricing strategy, bringing forth a variety of benefits:

Pricing Efficiency Across Store Types: The new tool enables Tesco to manage prices efficiently across diverse store formats, ranging from convenience stores to large hypermarkets.

Real-time Price Updates: Continuous price updates keep Tesco in sync with market changes, maintaining a competitive stance.

Enhanced Pricing Flexibility: Tesco gained the ability to adjust prices based on specific criteria optimising both revenue and customer satisfaction.

Seamless Integration: Integration with other Tesco systems simplifies the pricing process and offers a consolidated view of vital data.

High Availability and Resilience: The joint team's efforts ensure operational resilience of the Price Service, even during peak demand or unforeseen circumstances.

Accuracy and Reliability: Rigorous testing and intricate logic ensure pricing data precision, garnering trust from Tesco's team and customers alike.

Collaborative Success: The project underscores the collaborative prowess of Tesco and Weigandt Consulting in tackling complex challenges.

Future-proof Solution: The Price Service's modular design makes it adaptable for future retail evolutions, marking it as a long-term asset for Tesco.