Imran Maqbool, currently Pricing Manager at VWR, has many years of experience within the pricing sector. Despite hating maths during his school years, describing anything to do with numbers as "mind-numbingly boring", Imran has been excited by pricing, and now successfully helps companies grow their profits.
Pull to Pricing
"I got into pricing after a promotion from the supply chain department. I challenged the pricing strategy of the project, as I believed, due to the demand of certain product categories, it was not necessary to reduce price. The project was a huge success.
It was due to this project I was offered a role as a Global Pricing analyst looking after pricing in 26 different countries across the globe.
What attracted me to pricing was the overall immediate impact you can have on the business with pricing decisions, both positive and negative.
Pricing provides a business with an element of control around the finances, and that control and responsibility is what makes pricing an incredibly exciting area to work in."
Progress of Pricing
"I believe the biggest change within the pricing industry has been the relevancy of the data. When I started within pricing we usually worked on data which was 1-2 months outdated and once you’ve reviewed the data and implemented a strategy you could be working off incredibly outdated figures.
Now the data is live. The data we receive is more accurate, the decisions are made faster, and it feels as though it is an area of business which is growing with the experience of these challenges.
More pricing oriented people being brought into businesses has led to a more analytical and strategic approach to pricing. Now there is a massive focus around pricing, whereas a few years back pricing was not an essential part of many businesses."
Future of Pricing
"With the economic challenges within the current environment, costs are highly unstable due to many variables. Pricing is a tool which any business needs to prevent margin erosion, and is a highly necessary part of any business.
As we move into a more technologically advanced world the business will most likely make a massive shift from a static pricing strategy to a more dynamic pricing approach.