Does price optimization mean cutting prices?

No. Optimization decides where a sharp price earns a trip and where a category has room to carry margin. In one measured grocery deployment, profit rose 2.78% and revenue grew 0.9% at the same time, without widespread price cuts. PwC's 2026 grocery outlook makes the same argument from the other direction, urging grocers to govern with margin floors and protected price points and to retire always-on deals that no longer earn. The point is putting the right price on the right item, not a lower price on every item.

How does ClearDemand decide which items are KVIs?

Competitive movement and demand response, refreshed continuously. Items shoppers actively price-check earn a place on the list, and the list changes as the market does. dunnhumby's approach to measuring price perception asks shoppers what a basket would cost at each store, which is the perception KVI pricing protects. You set the tiers and the tolerance, and you can override any item. Customers hold KVI pricing compliance above 99%.

What happens when a merchant disagrees with a recommendation?

They override it, and the override is captured with the reason. Some overrides are healthy, because merchants know their categories better than any model. Those corrections feed back into the models, so the platform prices more like your best category manager over time. Rejection out of confusion is the problem worth solving, not rejection itself.

Can I see what a price change does before it reaches the shelf?

Yes. Every recommendation carries a forecast: the unit impact, the margin impact, and the related-item effects. Cannibalization on the larger size, halo on the complement, quantified per recommendation. You approve what holds up.

Do we need a data science team to run this?

No. ClearDemand carries the integration work from POS and ERP connection through go-live, and the platform surfaces exceptions rather than reports for someone to build. Every recommendation shows its reasoning in business terms, so a merchandising team reads it without a translator. Competitive intelligence typically delivers first value within 45 days, ahead of full optimization rollout.

What percentage of a grocery assortment should be KVIs?

Usually 10 to 20 percent. Go below that and you miss price signals shoppers genuinely check. Go above it and you give away margin on items that do not drive store choice. The right number depends on your category mix and your competitive set, which is why ClearDemand builds the list from your own competitive and demand data rather than a fixed template.

How often should a KVI list be updated?

Continuously. McKinsey's position is that KVIs now need reconsidering constantly rather than once a year or after a major economic shock, because competitive sets and shopper behavior move faster than an annual review can track. ClearDemand rebuilds the list from competitive movement and demand response, so it shifts as the market does rather than drifting between reviews.

ClearDemand for merchants

Defend your price image on KVIs and grow margin everywhere else

ClearDemand sets base price, promotion, and markdown against category role and item-level elasticity, so the price image you engineered on the front page holds up on every shelf in the store.

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Up to 20%

gross profit lift

Over 99%

KVI compliance

1 in 3

unsuccessful promotions retired

Shoppers read your everyday price and promotions as one story

Most systems decide them separately, and the seams leak margin. ClearDemand is price and promotion optimization for grocery and convenience merchandising teams, setting base price, promotions, and markdowns on one demand model so the basket impact is visible before a price reaches the shelf.

Decided In Separate Systems

TPRs quietly steal from base volume

A KVI match bleeds the rest of the basket

Trade dollars land where they're easiest to spend

The ad locks before the market moves

Cannibalization surfaces in next month's report

Category roles don't reflect on the shelf

One zone strategy, copied to every market

Margin arrives after the quarter closes

Decided On One Demand Model

Promo and base price share one model

KVI sharpness priced against basket margin

Vendor funding priced into the offer

Competitive moves reach the plan same day

Halo and cannibalization shown up front

Category roles price every item, every zone

Every market reads its own competitive set

Margin forecast arrives with the price

See the whole price story

Built for the way a merchandising calendar runs

The ad locks weeks out, cost letters land without warning, and the competitor down the street reprices on a whim. ClearDemand works on that clock.

See the basket before you commit to the shelf

Every recommendation shows its forecast: units, margin, and what it does to the items around it. Cannibalization on the 24oz, halo on the decaf, quantified before you approve.

Explore Price Optimization

Your category strategy, encoded once and enforced everywhere

Category roles, KVI tiers, price families, and zone logic set one time. Every recommendation, from center store to fresh, across every banner and every store, respects the role you assigned it.

Explore Competitive Intelligence

Retire the promotions that never worked

One in three promotions never hit their target. ClearDemand scores every event against the goal you set for it, so you can hone your strategy to what works.

Explore Promotion Optimization

What results have grocery merchants measured?

How One Grocery Retailer Used Price Optimization to Boost Profit +2.78%

A well-known regional grocer measured every price change against a backcast of doing nothing, then reinvested where the basket had room. Frozen led at 4.81%.

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+2.78%

profit across key departments

+0.9%

total revenue growth

+4.81%

profit lift in frozen

One category, $1M in incremental profit across 470 stores

A 470-store chain clustered its stores into zones by local competition, repriced beer to each zone's real competitive set, and grew category gross profit 23.29%.

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$1M

incremental profit

470

store chain

23.29%

gross profit

ClearDemand was the unanimous choice to deliver the pricing and promotions necessary for our growth and transformation.

Regional grocer

ClearDemand customer

INTEGRATIONS

What systems does ClearDemand connect to?

Your T-log, cost letters, item hierarchy, and competitive feeds land in one place, with live connections to NCR HQ, PDI, SAP HANA, and Oracle NetSuite. Priced output goes back to stores and shelf labels. We carry the integration through go-live, with first value in 45 days.