What dynamic pricing means in B2B
Dynamic pricing means the price changes when the inputs change, instead of waiting for someone to update the list. In retail that is prices moving by the hour. In distribution it is slower and more useful: a cost increase from the supplier is passed through the same day, a part with nine days of stock stops being discounted, a line where three rivals are out of stock moves up a little, and a customer who has accepted a price ten times is not offered a deeper discount.
Elastly does this inside limits you set. Prices move, but never below your margin floor, never above your ceiling, and never by more than the policy allows in one step.
Which signals move a price
Each signal is a factor the engine reads from your ERP, your stores or your competitor sources. You decide which ones apply to which part of the catalog. Two come from your own books.
Cost changes
A supplier increase is passed through the same day, within the margin your policy protects, instead of waiting for the next list update.
Stock cover
As days of cover fall, the discount shrinks. A part with nine days left is not the one to give away.
The market and the season
Two signals come from outside your own books.
Competitor price and stock
When three rivals are out of stock, the line moves up a little. When they undercut you, it moves toward the market, never past your floor.
Demand and seasonality
Parts that sell most of their year in a few months hold their price through the peak instead of being discounted by habit.
The customer in front of you
The last signal is the one reps know best and record least.
Customer tolerance
An account that has accepted a price ten times is not offered a deeper discount on the eleventh. Learned from its own won and lost quotes.
Where the prices go
Quote lines and price levels in your ERP, Shopify B2B price lists, BigCommerce customer groups, WooCommerce and 11 more channels through the integrations, or any system through the API. Every change is a decision with its inputs, so you can answer a customer who asks why the price moved.
Scheduled changes let you stage a repricing for a date, review the diff and approve it, so a cost pass-through lands on Monday morning instead of whenever the file arrives.
Guardrails first
Dynamic pricing without limits is how a distributor loses a key account over a $4 bearing. The pricing policy sets the floor and ceiling per category, brand or customer group, the maximum move per step and the confidence the engine needs before it acts. The simulator shows what last year would have looked like under the new policy before anything changes.
Large moves go to approvals with the reasons attached. Small ones go through on their own.