Pricing Analyst Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Are you searching for a pricing analyst job description? Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a pricing analyst. Feel free to use our pricing analyst job description template to produce your own pricing analyst job description. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a pricing analyst.
Who is a Pricing Analyst?
A Pricing Analyst is also called a Cost Pricing Analyst. He or she is an individual who assists a business to determine competitive pricing methodologies or strategies to gain market share and accomplish revenue goals. Pricing analyst works specifically for corporations in most industries to decide market prices for products that allow corporations to gain while being competitive at the same time. They collaborate with the sales, marketing, and product engineering team to decide on how to price company products appropriately and this implies that they don’t set a high or low price on goods and services but a standard price. Their job responsibility entails evaluating the product quality. Customer reviews and competitor pricing to formulate the appropriate market price for products or services. They may also be assigned to work closely with the sales team to establish sales prices of products and also brainstorm ideas for seasonal sales opportunities.
The typically daily work schedule of a Pricing Analyst is quite interesting; He or She starts their daily work schedule by checking his or her email or voicemail if there is any message from the sales team or the marketing team. During their day, they mostly indulge in meetings with the product engineering, marketing, sales, and customer service team to discuss in-depth revenue needs and make relevant changes to product pricing.
Pricing analysts are never lenient with the feedback of customers and that’s why they look at competitor pricing, consumer trends, and customer feedback. They utilize this information to gather reports and discover market prices for company products. They also take a lot of time to analyze product materials and features to decide their market value.
A pricing analyst has one distinct feature which is that he or she is investigative. Good pricing analysts possess this feature to conduct market research and also ask essential questions to develop accurate pricing for products. They also possess excellent interpersonal communication which allows them to work with different kinds of employees from diverse work environments including the sales, product engineering, marketing, and finance department. In addition, a good pricing analyst is very much updated about trends and competitors within their industry to aid pricing decisions. A good pricing analyst also adheres to an ethical code that inspires them to set price ranges for products that match product quality and customer needs.
Pricing analysts report to different personalities, although this solely depends on the organization they are working in or the organizational structure for employees. For instance, a Pricing Analyst can report to the Sales Department Manager, Marketing Manager, or Finance Manager. Pricing analyst who is freelance employees can report directly to the Sales or Marketing Director within a corporation.
What is Price Management?
Price management is a price operating platform that supervises price-setting practices, people, models, operations, and price strategies. A price operating platform incorporates multiple perspectives, information, and data sources mandated to consistently arrive at optimal pricing decisions for profitable revenue growth. To set up an appropriate price for a product, the pricing analyst and the manager collaborate to achieve this. The Pricing manager and the Pricing analyst are responsible for ensuring that there is productivity and efficacy in a team as well as directing the business on the price, process, procedures, and policies. It is therefore highly paramount for the pricing analyst to possess excellent communication skills and interpersonal skills. A good pricing analyst that works with a team of professionals must be a role model to his or her team members. A pricing analyst becomes successful when he or she serves as a strong source of inspiration and motivation for the team members and peers. He or she must always communicate with other teams and senior management to discover failures or successes and find solutions to challenges and progress further.
Pricing Analyst Job Description
What is a pricing analyst job description? A pricing analyst job description is simply a list of duties and responsibilities of a pricing analyst in an organization. Below are the pricing analyst job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a pricing analyst job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
The following are the duties and responsibilities of a Pricing Analyst and they are:
- Analyze Pricing Data: The sole responsibility of a pricing analyst is to analyze pricing data and he or she achieves this by utilizing quantitative and qualitative strategies to analyze competitor pricing, evaluate market share and margin, and track customer engagement to comprehend a complete picture of effective pricing strategies for their company offerings.
- Formulate Forecasts and Models: Pricing analysts play a very crucial role in assisting a company’s forecasts of revenue and market share information. They employ different statistical modeling strategies to prepare reports that showcase the potential impact of various pricing strategies, their overall effect on margins and costs, and how they impact sales volume and profitability.
- Determine Pricing and Marketing Strategies: To determine the prices of products, pricing analysts collaborate with the sales and marketing personnel to develop and enact competitive pricing strategies.
- Monitor Industry Trends: There are a lot of trends that emerge in the industry and a good pricing analyst will monitor these trends to keep abreast with them. They mostly make research to find out the trend that enhances sales volume or profitability, and they can also recommend pricing strategies that match these trends closely. They achieve this by actively monitoring industry trends; they may also map out strategies that can take advantage of underutilized marketing segments and help the company gain market share in new venues.
- Develop Pricing Tools: Most pricing analysts utilize developed pricing tools throughout the company to get more rapid responses to changing market needs or trends. The tools can be dynamic pricing that gives room for the company to quickly make adjustments to prices to enhance sales volume and conversion rates.
- Present Findings to Key Decision-Makers: This aspect of the role requires that pricing analysts translate complex data into actionable methodologies and techniques to drive sales and increase marketing efforts to make research. They usually prepare both written reports and visual presentations to share their findings at the company they work for.
Other responsibilities of a pricing analyst are:
- Cooperate with the sales and marketing department on developing and executing competitive pricing strategies
- Keep updated on pricing analysis methods and industry trends
- Recognize appropriate sales and clearance prices to increase customer traffic
- Correlate sales trends to previous periods and determine the cause for the increase or decrease
Qualifications
- A bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Finance, Accounting, or a similar field
- An advanced degree in a related field
- At least five years of proven experience as a pricing analyst in a similar industry
- High level of proficiency in Business Intelligence (BI) software, such as Science and InetSoft Style Intelligence
- Ability to be updated about industry trends and develop dynamic pricing tools
- Substantial knowledge of statistical methods and data analysis
- Comprehensive experience in analyzing pricing strategies and forecasting revenue and market share
- Knowledge in collaborating on pricing strategies with sales and marketing departments
- Progressive ability to present pricing analysis reports to relevant stakeholders
- Outstanding analytical and communication skills
- Patience and ability to see long term
- Robust understanding of value-based pricing ( analytics and philosophy), business acumen, and excellent problem-solving ability
- Interpersonal skills
- Ability to collaborate with the sales, marketing, finance, and product engineering
Essential Skills
- Analytical Skills: just as the name implies, pricing analysts must know how to think analytically about products and decide the acceptable price for them ensuring that they are not below or above standard. They usually achieve this by comparing sales trends and deciding on market data. They also make adjustments to the prices of products when necessary and also put into consideration competitors around them. Analytical skill is a requisite for this job because they will help you to brainstorm new ideas and keep abreast with the ongoing trend in the industry.
- Communication: Excellent communication skills are a core skill that pricing analysts need to possess to be able to collaborate with the sales, product engineering, finance, and marketing team to analyze the price of a product. They also work closely with the executive team members, store associates, and office staff to increase the productivity and efficacy of the organization. Possessing strong verbal skills is not enough; you must possess strong writing skills because, at the end of the day, a project manager is expected to present the result of his findings.
- Detail-Oriented: it takes a mind that is highly focused to be able to analyze effectively and therefore a pricing analyst must be much focused when carrying out an analysis of data. The whole company depends on the analysis of a pricing analyst to make decisions and so the pricing analyst must ensure that his analysis is error-free. He or she must also ensure that there is accuracy and efficacy in his or her analysis.
- Problem-solving: Pricing analysts can collaborate with the sales team to discover why there is a decline in the sales of a product and they will use their problem-solving skills to bring about an effective solution. Problem-solving skills are also very important to price analyst because it helps them to brainstorm ideas that will lead to the success of the company.
- Interpersonal Skills and Teamwork: this is very crucial to a pricing analyst because he or she does not work in isolation. A pricing analyst must build a bond with coworkers and also with clients. A pricing analyst collaborates with the sales team to boost the sales of a product and it is highly paramount for the pricing analyst to have a friendly attitude toward customers to retain them.
In addition, they also collaborate with the sales, marketing, finance, and product engineering team to achieve the company goal. The pricing analyst is usually the leader of this group of people and so higher needs to play a crucial role and motivate the team.
How to Become a Pricing Analyst
- Acquire a Bachelor’s Degree
The first step to becoming a pricing analyst is to acquire a bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, Accounting, or a related field. This degree usually lasts for four years and it teaches students how to import, manage and analyze large sets of data by utilizing the latest technology. It also exposes the students to how to set the acceptable market price of a product and how to also how to achieve revenue goals. Acquiring a bachelor’s degree will also help you to harness skills such as analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Enroll For an Advanced Degree
You can enroll for a master’s degree in Business Administration or finance to upgrade your analytical mindset. One of the core skills a pricing analyst needs is an analytical mind and acquiring a master’s or doctorate can boast your mindset on how to set the best price rates of a product. A master’s degree also improves your chances of securing a job as a potential job candidate.
- Get Certified or Licensed
Most pricing analysts need to have certification and licensing although it doesn’t need to help you as a potential job candidate to stand out among others. For instance, in the United States of America, prospective pricing analysts can acquire a license from the Financial Industry Regulatory authority and a certification from the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute to develop or advance in the field of a pricing analyst.
- Get the Requisite Experience
Most hiring managers prefer to hire a pricing analyst who has some experience in the job scene. A pricing analyst can begin his career in an industry to gain relevant experience. He or she can also work in a similar industry such as data research or finance. Working in an industry will help you harness some exceptional skills that a pricing analyst needs to have and it will expose you to the mechanism of setting the standard price of a product.
Where Can a Pricing Analyst Work?
A pricing analyst mostly works in production industries such as the manufacturing industry, textile industry, and telecommunication industry. He or she performs the role of analyzing data and setting the appropriate price and also making adjustments when necessary.
Pricing Analyst Salary
- In the United States, the average salary of a pricing analyst per year is $68,562 and $35.16 per hour. Entry-level pricing analyst starts their career by earning $52,745 while most experienced pricing analyst earns up to $102,021 per year.
- In Nigeria, a pricing analyst earns 381,000 NGN per month. The salary varies based on the geographical location of the pricing analyst. The salary also includes other benefits such as transport, medical and other benefits.
