UK retailers, including major KBB brands, are wasting almost two million hours every week on competitor price checking, due to ineffective processes, according to a recent report.

The findings were published in a white paper by pricing and automation specialist Omnia Retail, which questioned 150 UK retail businesses on the scope and efficacy of their pricing strategies.

It showed companies are needlessly spending an average of 10 hours per week on manually checking and benchmarking their competitor’s prices, amounting to almost two million hours or 246,000 days.

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More than half (55%) of KBB retailers said they dedicate at least 1-10 hours per week to monitoring market pricing, with 24% of retailers saying they commit 11-25 hours to this practice on a weekly basis.

One in 10 brands surveyed said they spend around 26-50 hours per working week on the practice, with 1% stating they spend more than 50 hours.

Despite this, 13% of retailers say they don’t spend enough time price-checking competitors.

Moreover, although 57% of retailers said they complete competitor price checks on a weekly basis, only 17% felt that the practice has helped them achieve their goals.

In addition, less than half of retailers (48%) use competitor price research as a reason to increase or cut their prices.

CEO of Omnia Retail Sander Roose said: “The growth of etail has been a game-changer for retailer’s pricing strategies.

“Consumers can check how much their competitors are charging for the same products with a few clicks, so real-time benchmarking is key if brands are to keep pace with other industry players.

“However, these figures show that companies are committing a lot of time to competitor price-checking – an average of 10 hours per week – but doing so with little strategy or direction.

“just half of retailers said they actually use competitor benchmarking information to change their prices and 83% don’t believe that the practice has been beneficial to the business.”

She continued: “Intelligent software can combat this, automating the price-checking process and requiring no time or resource to manage.

“It also frees up time for teams to focus on creativity and improving their business in other ways – something that will be of increasing importance in the fight to maintain margins and deliver excellent customer experiences.”

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