Functional Prerequisites for Competitor Prices

The following settings must be made in Customizing and the master data to ensure that the competitor prices are modeled correctly.

Customizing Settings

Number ranges

The internal and external number ranges (01 and AA) are used for saving and calling up the documents of competitor price entry.

You can also create your own number ranges.

Price entry types

The qualities that are to be valid for price entry documents (such as number range assignments) are defined in the price entry types. Price entry types 0001 (internal number range) and 0002 (external number range) are supplied as standard.

You can also create your own price entry types.

Pricing strategies

Pricing strategies are used in the sales price calculation function for determining the suggested price.

You can define your own algorithms in addition to the supplied pricing strategies. To do this, enter the following parameters:

Pricing strategy type (here, you would define that the suggested price must always be lower than the competitor price, for example)
Initialization (value for the suggested price if no competitor price is found).
Termination rule and percentage rate (for subsequent changes in the suggested price)
Rounding to price points
Customer-defined function module

Controlling Sales Price Calculations

You can make entries for the MBETR (Competitor prices) list field under Control Data for Pricing Table and Data Backup and then under Control per Sales Price Calculation Schema and List Field. You can thus use the MBETR list field for the following functions:

Setting the parameters for saving the competitor prices in the competitor price entry function (from the sales price calculation function)
Transporting the competitor prices to the detail screen for competitor prices in screen containing the pricing table

The list field VORPR (Suggested price) offers you further control options: You can use the Method of adoption field (displayed only with this list field) to determine parameters for transporting competitor prices from the sales price calculation schema to the Suggested price list field of the pricing table.

Note Note

The suggested price is adopted from the competitor prices using the algorithm defined in the pricing strategy only when A is selected as the method of adoption. If this method of adoption is not selected, the first record found is adopted from the calculation schema, as is the case with all other list fields.

End of the note.

Pricing

Condition type VKPM is supplied as standard for using competitor prices in the sales price calculation function. This condition type allows you to determine as many competitor prices for each article as you wish using the sales price calculation schema. To do this, requirement 85 must be assigned to the condition type of the competitor prices in the sales price calculation schema. Sales price calculation schema WWS003 is supplied as an example.

Note Note

Control parameters for the sales price calculation are supplied as standard for calculation schema WWS003 . Schema WWS003 is assigned to pricing type 0003 , which is also supplied.

End of the note.

You can also create your own sales price calculation schemas that contain a condition type for competitors, or you can extend the schemas you have been using up until now.

Settings in the Master Data

Article master

The field Competition characterization is contained in the sales field of the article master. This field shows how much pressure from competitors an article is under. You can use this field to control whether or not the suggested price is used as the final price in sales price calculations.

If an entry is maintained in this field, you can define requirements in sales price determination sequences to deal with competition characterization. You can, for example, define a requirement stipulating that the suggested price should only be adopted for articles that are under a lot of pressure from competitors, and that the final price for the remaining articles should be determined using a planned markup.

Customer master

Customer master records must be maintained for competitors.

A separate master record should be maintained for every store in the competitor's company that determines its own prices. If a competitor uses the same prices in all of its stores in one country, for example, only one customer master record needs to be created for the competitor.

Competitors are modeled as customers with a competitor account group . In the standard system, this is account group 0006 .

Note Note

You can use all the functions in the customer master to create records for competitors in the system. It should be noted, however, that the sales area data in the competitor records refers to the sales area of your own company.

End of the note.

You can use Classification to group competitors in competitor groups.

You can enter these competitor groups in the merchandise category data for stores to determine which competitors are worth keeping an eye on as far as particular merchandise categories in particular stores are concerned. You can also enter competitor groups as selection criteria on the selection screen for entering competitor prices.

Assortments

You can create assortments containing those articles on which you and a particular competitor compete. You can then assign these assortments to the relevant competitors. Use the following procedure:

Create an assortment module.
Create an assortment.
Avoid setting the Listing conditions, assortment indicator, as this generates unnecessary lists. Generating these lists has a negative effect on performance at POS outbound, for example.
Assign the assortment module you have created to the assortment.
Assign the competitors that you have created as customers in the system to the assortment.

You can also generate automatic price entry lists for these competitors, in which the articles in the assortment are listed.