Pricing can be one of the strongest levers for growth in B2B, but only if managed with the right level of maturity. Too often, companies get stuck in outdated methods like Excel mark-ups or reactive discounting. While these approaches may work at a basic level, they prevent organisations from realising the full value hidden in their data, products, and markets.

That’s why understanding pricing maturity is so important. Every company moves through different stages, from cost-plus pricing to advanced algorithmic optimisation. The further you progress, the more control you gain over margins, competitiveness, and long-term profitability.

Below, we’ll walk through the five stages of pricing maturity and what they mean for B2B companies.

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How Pricing Strategies Changed over the Decade

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Pricing strategies have come a long way from simple cost-plus calculations. What once meant adding a fixed margin on top of costs has evolved into a structured journey of maturity stages, each designed to unlock better profitability, competitiveness, and value capture.

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Today, companies move from basic margin markups to market-based pricing, then to value-driven models, automation, and finally AI-powered optimisation. Each stage builds on the previous one, helping organisations shift from manual spreadsheets to data-driven, automated, and intelligent pricing systems that maximise both margins and growth.

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1. Cost-Plus Pricing

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At the earliest stage, most companies use cost-plus or margin mark-up pricing. This means calculating product cost, adding a fixed margin or mark-up, and setting the price.

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This method is simple and ensures basic profitability. But it has major limitations:

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• Prices don’t reflect market dynamics.
• Competitor moves and customer value aren’t considered.
• Errors often occur when managed manually in Excel.

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While cost-plus pricing creates a foundation, it rarely supports growth in competitive B2B markets.

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2. Competitor-Based Pricing

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As companies mature, they begin monitoring the market. In this stage, businesses use competitor pricing data to set their own prices. This adds external context, but challenges remain:

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• Competing only on price can lead to a “race to the bottom.”
• Without combining competitor data with internal insights, margins are still at risk.
• It can be difficult to collect reliable competitor data across markets.

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Competitor-based pricing helps companies stay relevant, but it cannot be the only strategy.

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3. Value-Based Pricing

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Stage three is a turning point: value-based pricing. Instead of focusing only on costs or competitors, companies begin pricing based on the value delivered to customers. This involves:

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• Mapping where products create real value (e.g. efficiency, reliability, unique features).
• Understanding what percentage of that value customers are willing to pay.
• Creating a “value map” that informs differentiated pricing.

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Though resource-intensive, value-based pricing helps capture margins that cost-plus or competitor-only strategies miss.

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Also Read: How to Shift from Cost-plus to Value-based Pricing Strategy

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4. Rule-Based Automation

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Once value and market factors are understood, the next step is automation. Rule-based pricing allows companies to codify strategies into business logic. For example:

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• “Always price product X at least 2% above competitor Y.”
• “Never discount below margin Z.”

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These rules are connected to ERP or PIM systems, enabling automated day-to-day pricing while managers focus on strategy. Rule-based automation improves speed, consistency, and scalability.

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5. AI-Driven Pricing

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At the most advanced stage, companies move to AI and algorithmic pricing. Here, systems learn from past transactions, analyse price sensitivity and elasticity, and recommend the optimal price for each product, customer group, or channel.

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AI pricing requires:

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• Reliable, organised transactional data.
• Historical consistency (to avoid “noisy” discount patterns from sales teams).
• A culture ready to trust and use machine learning insights.

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When done right, AI pricing transforms pricing from reactive guesswork into a data-driven growth engine.

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The 4 Levels of Pricing Maturity: From Price Lists to Algorithmic Pricing

Pricing maturity defines how well your organisation manages prices to capture revenue and protect margins. Companies typically move through four levels of maturity, each with distinct challenges, risks, and opportunities. Understanding where your business stands helps you identify the next step in your pricing journey.

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Level 1: Price List Maintenance: Volume Driven

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At this stage, sales teams control pricing with little to no central guidance. The focus is on selling as much as possible, often to anyone at any price. Prices are typically set with a cost-plus approach, but actual net prices vary widely across regions and customers.

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The result is a wide price band: some customers pay significantly more or less for the same product. This can lead to price conflicts across regions or channels and create customer dissatisfaction once they notice inconsistencies.

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Margins may look “on target” for now, but the lack of pricing discipline increases risk and makes it harder to sustain profitability.

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Level 2: Taking Transactional Control: Optimising by Projects

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Here, companies recognise profit leakages and start tackling them. Finance or commercial directors often lead pricing initiatives, supported by better data transparency. Costs, margins, and customer profitability become visible at a granular level.

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At this stage, organisations implement margin improvement projects:

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• Correcting discount and surcharge policies.
• Introducing price and value differentiation.
• Tackling obvious price leakages.
• Starting to monitor price elasticity and demand.

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Some companies experiment with rules-based dynamic pricing, adjusting prices based on inventory, competitor prices, promotions, and demand patterns. Importantly, this level connects finance, sales, and marketing, laying the foundation for more strategic pricing.

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Level 3: Full Value Capturing: Pricing as a Process

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Once transactional control is in place, organisations move to capturing full value. Pricing becomes a structured process, not just a project. Key elements of Level 3 include:

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• Value-based pricing: setting prices based on what customers are willing to pay, not just costs.
• Configure-to-Quote (CPQ) integration: ensuring sales teams follow pricing rules and authorisation flows.
• Value selling: equipping sales to defend both value and price.
• Innovation pricing: aligning product development with willingness-to-pay insights.

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Marketing and pricing now work hand-in-hand, using online price monitoring and competitive intelligence to refine strategies. First-generation dynamic pricing becomes standard, guided by rules and aligned with market positioning.

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Level 4: Pricing as a System: Algorithmic Pricing

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The highest maturity level transforms pricing into a data-driven system. Advanced machine learning models and predictive analytics optimise prices in real time.

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B2C leaders like Amazon and Uber are examples: they use predictive and dynamic pricing models powered by vast datasets. In B2B, companies like GE, Michelin, and Suez innovate with performance-based pricing models, charging per hour of engine use, per kilometre driven, or even per unit of energy delivered, rather than selling products outright.

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At this level, pricing is strategic and disruptive. Companies develop entirely new profit models, capturing more value but also taking on greater risk.

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It’s important to note: not every organisation needs to reach Level 4. For many, Level 3: full value capturing is the ideal end state. But if your competitors are digital disruptors like Amazon or Uber, then preparing for algorithmic pricing becomes critical.

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Download Full Whitepaper: Zooming In On the Price Maturity Model

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Most companies underestimate how much margin is lost through poor pricing practices. By understanding your maturity level, you can prioritise improvements and avoid costly mistakes. Whether you are still managing price lists or already experimenting with dynamic pricing, the key is to treat pricing as a journey, moving step by step toward greater control, transparency, and value capture.

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The Role of Pricing Maturity in B2B

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Reaching higher maturity stages doesn’t happen overnight. Many B2B companies are still in stage 1 or 2, some experiment with stage 3, but only a few have reached stage 4 or 5 across their full portfolio.

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Each stage builds on the previous one. For example, you need a disciplined automation layer before AI models can work properly. Without it, messy data from inconsistent pricing makes accurate predictions impossible.

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The journey to maturity is gradual, but every step forward unlocks better decisions, stronger margins, and more competitive advantage.

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How Symson Supports Your Pricing Maturity Journey

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Moving up the pricing maturity ladder requires more than spreadsheets; it demands pricing automation software that combines data-driven insights with flexibility for human decision-making. That’s exactly what SYMSON delivers.

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We also provide a price maturity growth plan where we work on 12 custom analyses in combination with a one-hour session with Symson’s data science experts.

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With SYMSON’s AI pricing tool, you can:

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• Gain full transparency into product and customer profitability.
• Automate pricing rules at scale while keeping control for exceptions.
• Apply dynamic pricing solutions powered by algorithms that predict demand and measure price elasticity.
• Monitor competitor prices, including non-EAN products, for sharper positioning.
• Optimise margins across large catalogues without losing oversight.

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Whether your business is trying to reduce price leakages, implement value-based pricing, or advance toward algorithmic pricing, SYMSON helps you accelerate the journey with an explainable, human-in-the-loop approach.

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