Pricing College Podcast

"The market made me do it." For decades, that single phrase has been the ultimate shield for businesses facing tough pricing questions. If costs go up, you raise prices. If competitors move, you move with them. It's how the game has always been played—from fuel giants and supermarkets to manufacturing and B2B suppliers. But that shield is cracking. With regulators like the ACCC turning up the heat...

By the time pricing data arrives on your desk, in your board pack, or in your leadership meetings, it has already been shaped, structured, filtered, and framed. In this episode, we pull back the curtain on corporate pricing reporting. This isn't a story of fraud or bad intentions; it is a breakdown of a rational corporate system where everyone is answering a different question, except yours. Disco...

A massive shift is hitting Australian retail. Under the mandatory food and grocery code of conduct, Coles and Woolworths are legally required to justify their shelf prices to regulators based on a strict standard: cost of supply plus a reasonable margin. But if you think this law stays at the checkout, you are missing the real commercial threat. The pressure is about to travel directly into the ra...

As a CEO, you look at board reports, summaries, and high-level margins. But what happens when you actually open up the raw, transactional data? In this episode, we dive into the hidden layers of corporate defense mechanisms—from recruitment filters and executive stakes to "the shield" of trusted staff and an over-protectiveness in corporate culture—that unintentionally keep CEOs in the dark about...

When you sit down with a CEO or commercial team and open up the actual transactional data, that is the exact moment a chilling realisation sets in. More often than not, the answer is: "Nobody knows." In this episode, we pull back the curtain on what pricing actually looks like inside a business that's been operating for 20+ years. It's not a story of intentional strategy—it's a story of accumulate...

Bunnings suppliers face a challenge that extends far beyond a single retailer. Margin pressure rarely arrives as a crisis. It arrives as a request. Support this promotion. Fund this campaign. Sharpen the price just this once. Each decision feels manageable on its own. But over time, temporary concessions become commercial expectations, and suppliers end up carrying costs that were never theirs to...

Most people see the Coles pricing case as a retail story. It's not. It's a pricing story. And for suppliers, the lesson is much bigger than supermarket promotions. When discounts become frequent, customers stop trusting the full price. Promotional activity starts to shape expectations. Pricing power weakens long before margins show the damage. In this episode, we explore what suppliers can learn f...

The discount reflex doesn't just lower your margin; it teaches the market what your product is worth. And once you've taught that lesson, you don't get to unteach it. In this episode, we break down the recent ACCC findings against retail giant JB Hi-Fi for systematic "was/is" pricing misconduct, and why this isn't just a retail story. It is a critical warning for every B2B supplier, distributor, a...

What does true pricing power look like when dominant buyers consolidate, overseas competitors slash prices, and your market options shrink all at once? In this episode of the Pricing College Podcast, we explore the deep strategic lessons concerning B2B pricing power following Wesfarmers' announcement that Blackwoods is moving under the Bunnings umbrella. When major channels merge, the balance of p...

The Federal Court's ruling against Coles—finding 13 out of 14 "Down Down" promotions to be disingenuous, is a massive wake-up call for the FMCG industry. But the real story isn't just about what the retailers did. It's about a fundamental pricing discipline problem among suppliers. In this video, we break down why relying on discount dependency and relationship-based negotiation is structurally er...

TIME STAMP NOTES: [00:00] Introduction: Why AI Pricing Could Become a Major Commercial Risk [01:40]  Why AI Cannot Fix Broken Pricing Foundations [02:56] The Industrial Business Case Study and Hidden Margin Leakage [05:27] How AI Automates Pricing Dysfunction at Scale [07:30] Why AI Pricing Is a Governance and Transformation Challenge [09:44] Conclusion: The False Confidence AI Creates Inside Busi...

Most executives assume margin pressure is a pricing problem — raise prices and margins should recover. But in reality, many organisations experience the opposite: margins continue to erode even after price increases are implemented. In this episode, we explore why this happens inside real companies. The issue is rarely inflation or market conditions alone. The deeper problem sits inside how pricin...

This episode of the Pricing Transformation series explores the "hidden" complexity that often undermines B2B pricing strategies. Using the recent increase in Australia Post fuel surcharges as a real-world anchor, Joanna Wells discusses how small, reactive commercial decisions—like freight recovery fees and tactical discounts—eventually create an unmanageable system. Key Takeaways The "Headline Rat...

TIME-STAMPED NOTES: [0:00] Intro: The Uncomfortable Truth  [0:29] Increasing Pressure on Pricing Teams [1:50] The Accidental Evolution of Pricing [3:12] Analytical vs. Commercial Capability  [4:19] Why Teams are Set Up to Fail [5:48] The Capability Gap  [7:49] Managing Complexity vs. Structural Change [9:29] Limits of External Consultants [11:00] The AI "Silver Bullet" Delusion  [12:12] Defining a...

Times-stamp Notes: [00:00] Introduction to developing pricing strategies [00:32] Developing pricing strategies amid rising complexity and cost pressures [01:34] Challenges in developing pricing strategies within current systems [03:57] Structural issues in developing pricing strategies [05:48] Example of misalignment when developing pricing strategies [08:47] Improving and developing pricing strat...

TIME-STAMP NOTES: [00:00] Introduction: CEOs Under Cost Pass Through Pressure [01:44] Cost Pass Through in Highly Volatile Markets [04:04] Cost Pass Through Must Be Disciplined, Not Reactive [08:20] Cost Pass Through Without Losing Customers [10:48] Conclusion: Pricing Is a Team Effort   [00:00] Across Australia this week, fuel prices have jumped up sharply again. In Sydney and Melbourne, for inst...

TIME-STAMPED NOTES: [00:00] Intro: Why Margin Management Is Harder Than Revenue Growth [02:22] Why Pricing Strategy Fails Without a Margin Management System [06:16] When Pricing Strategy Breaks Down: Rebates, Costs, and Margin Protection Risks [11:44] Margin Management in Action: Building a Strong Pricing and Margin System [14:39] Conclusion: Margin Protection Requires Discipline, Not Just Growth...

TIME-STAMPED NOTES: [00:00] Introduction [01:12] The Challenge of Rising Costs [02:39] The Problem of Ownership [03:53] Case Study: Finance and Product Portfolios [05:47] Case Study: Sales and Customer Relationships [09:03] Case Study: Pricing Teams and Internal Views of Value [11:59] Operational Systems and Data Challenges [14:05] Conclusion: Improving Pricing Capability   Most executives I speak...

Today's episode is a bit like Part B or a follow-up from our last episode a couple of weeks ago, where we introduced our new project, which we're calling Value Culture.   TIME-STAMPED NOTES: [00:00] Introduction [03:05] Why do not all companies have specialised pricing experts or teams? [4:35] What can Value Culture do? [10:19] What can clients benefit from Value Culture? [11:17] The Ultimate Obje...

Why Pricing Requires CEO and Csuite Backing   Aidan:  In today's episode, we want to dig a bit deeper into a topic we've covered a couple of times in previous episodes. And that it's vital, it's so important that a pricing transformation or a major pricing project has CEO, C-suite backing.   And I suppose today we're going to dig into that. We're gonna do a bit of a question-and-answer format. Cau...

In today's episode, we want to explore the world of startups and I supposed at Taylor Wells we got asked or approach by quite a few startup businesses and the early stages of development with questions about pricing advice and pricing strategy and how start-ups should price. And I suppose we just really want to explore some of those ideas today and maybe just discuss some ideas. TIME-STAMPED NOTES...