Pricing & Revenue Management

After years of reductions in headcount and administrative expenses, and numerous improvements in technology and supply chain many companies are looking now to improve top line performance. One of the hottest topics has been pricing and promotion management and optimization. Mike Gold has been in the forefront of this subject for a number of years. His credentials include:

• Providing marketing and sales support to Retail Visions Systems, a small, best-of-breed provider of item and price management and promotion planning software to the retail grocery and drug sectors
  
• Functioning as SVP Consulting Services in 2003 for Knowledge Support Systems (KSS), a small provider of price optimization software solutions to the retail grocery, drug, convenience and gasoline industries
  
• Initiating Pricing and Revenue Management consulting services for Arthur Andersen's Business Consulting Unit and acting as de facto national coordinator for client inquiries on this subject
  
• Being an active member of the Professional Pricing Society for the last several years and becoming a member of the Sponsor's Council while at KSS
  
• Co-authoring a number of papers on the subject of pricing and presenting in several venues including twice at Professional Pricing Society conferences and also at the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences in London. (See Papers and Presentations)
  
• Familiarity with many of the software vendors participating in the retail space and recent product development history
  
• Principal subject matter expert and coordinator of major proposals to Walgreens, RadioShack and Big Lots

Direct engagement experience in this arena includes:

• For a national retail drug chain, assisting in the implementation of a customized price optimization software installation, providing consultative guidance in the review of pricing processes, collaborating in the oversight of the client relationship and participating in client presentations. This installation is still in progress.
  
• For a major, national hardware retailer, managed the project team that redefined retail pricing strategy with the goal of improving gross margins and competitive positioning and obtaining greater pricing compliance from its 5000 member dealer network. The client implemented the revised strategy and has seen approximately a $20 million dollar improvement in gross margin equivalent to about a three percentage point improvement in margin rate. Project elements included statistical modeling, store segmentation analysis, consumer research, competitive audits and review of private brand strategy.
  
• For a national food products manufacturer with many name brands and seven semiautonomous divisions, managed the project team that conducted a complete review of current food service trade promotion practices with the objective of redesigning and centralizing control of trade promotion activity. The project required on-site documentation of division practices, design of a future state closed loop process that would end many of the existing deficiencies and translation of the new processes into system design architecture. Assistance was also provided to the client in evaluating and selecting trade management software for both retail and food service divisions.

Mike is also able to draw on his extensive background in process improvement and organizational alignment to provide sound, specific guidance in addressing the process and organizational implications of Pricing initiatives and has spoken directly on this subject.