B2B pricing explained: strategies and guide

B2B pricing refers to the pricing of products and services between businesses. Unlike in the B2C segment, where a uniform end-customer price often applies, B2B pricing is based on highly individual conditions, contractual frameworks, and segmented prices. Pricing is often strongly shaped by the underlying business relationship.

B2B pricing at a glance

• B2B pricing is more complex than B2C because prices depend on customer group, volume, contract, service level, and relationship.

• A B2B price is formed based on costs, competition, customer segments, product type, sales channel, contract model, and data availability.

• Segmented pricing logic is essential in B2B pricing to reflect different willingness to pay and avoid unnecessary margin losses.

• Uncontrolled discounts are one of the biggest margin killers in B2B pricing.

• A functioning pricing strategy requires consistent data across ERP, CRM, CPQ, and ecommerce systems.

• AI can support B2B pricing by identifying patterns in prices and discounts or deriving price recommendations.

What makes good B2B pricing?

A well-thought-out B2B pricing approach helps you protect your margins, make pricing decisions transparent, and apply prices consistently across all sales channels.

At the same time, it enables you to address different customer segments more effectively, assess competitive situations more accurately, and significantly simplify internal processes for creating and approving quotes.

Protecting and improving margins

In B2B, even small price changes have a direct impact on your results. If your sales team discounts prices just two to three percent more than economically reasonable, your profit margin can be significantly reduced.

• Define target margins per product and customer group instead of focusing solely on list prices.

• Set minimum prices at which a deal is still economically viable.

• Establish discount thresholds so that not every deal is individually “negotiated.”

This helps you avoid price deviations caused by habit, personal relationships, time pressure, or lack of guidance.

Managing competitive positioning

To position your prices meaningfully in the market, you need a clear understanding of your competitive landscape. This includes:

• which products are considered comparable

• how strongly services differ

• the typical price range within your segment

If you understand these factors, you can set your prices deliberately:

• higher, if you offer clearly recognizable added value through service, delivery capability, or quality

• within the usual market range, if your offering is largely interchangeable with others

• lower, if you deliberately want to build volume or ease competitive pressure

Based on this, you actively shape how your company is perceived – as a premium provider, a reliable standard, or a price-agile competitor.

Supporting growth objectives

Growth results from pricing logic that fits your target customers. This requires different approaches by segment, for example:

• price lists for entry-level customers with lower purchasing volumes

• advantages for high-potential customers, such as better tiered pricing or conditions

• pricing models for new services, such as subscriptions or usage-based billing

• clearly differentiated prices for products or services with high value creation, so you do not give away potential

Without this differentiation, growth is often paid for with margin losses, because all customers automatically receive similar conditions.

Consistent pricing across all channels

Many companies struggle with price differences between sales, ecommerce, dealer structures, and internal price lists. Such discrepancies lead to follow-up questions, mistrust, or even lost deals.

A robust pricing strategy therefore defines:

• which prices and discounts are displayed in ecommerce

• how these relate to sales conditions

• how customer-specific prices are consistently transferred to all systems (ERP, CRM, shop)

• how you ensure that sales quotes and shop orders follow the same logic

The goal is for customers to receive the same price regardless of the channel they use to purchase.

Documenting the pricing process

A clearly structured pricing logic creates:

• transparent internal responsibilities for who is allowed to adjust prices

• standardized approval processes, for example for high discounts

• simplified quoting processes, because sales and back office teams know the applicable price limits

• better comparability of quotes, because everyone works from the same basis

Using data effectively

B2B pricing is driven by data. Key questions include which data you evaluate:

• sales history: which prices work in which segments?

• discount patterns: where are discounts regularly higher than planned?

• competitive data: how are market prices changing?

• cost trends: at what cost changes do prices need to be adjusted?

• segment data: which customers pay higher prices, which do not?

This data forms the basis for:

• realistic target prices

• reliable discount rules

• price recommendations in CRM or CPQ systems

• dynamic prices in ecommerce

• AI-driven optimizations, such as price suggestions or scenario analyses

What B2B pricing models exist?

B2B pricing models differ in how prices are derived and which data is used. The most important models are cost-based, competition-based, value-based, and dynamic pricing.

They influence how flexible you are in pricing, how well your prices fit the market, and how precisely you can address different customer segments.

Cost-based pricing (cost-plus)

With cost-based pricing, you derive your price from manufacturing and operating costs and add a fixed markup. This model is easy to understand and works well with stable cost structures.

Disadvantage: you do not take actual customer value or competitor pricing into account. As a result, prices often appear economically sound but do not perform optimally in the market.

Competition-based pricing

With competition-based pricing, you align your prices with the market’s price range. You use market and industry data to determine whether you are positioned above, within, or below this range.

This model is particularly suitable for highly comparable products or markets with high price transparency. However, the approach is purely reactive – you follow competitors instead of actively building your own price position.

Value-based pricing

With value-based pricing, you set prices based on the value your offering creates for the customer. This value may result from cost savings, higher productivity, risk reduction, or additional revenue.

This model is especially useful when added value can be quantified. It helps you enforce higher prices but requires a precise understanding of customer segments and their actual willingness to pay.

Dynamic pricing

With dynamic B2B pricing, prices adjust depending on demand, competition, customer segment, or historical sales data. In B2B, this model is often implemented using rules or AI support – for example through price recommendations in CRM or CPQ systems or segment-based pricing rules in ecommerce.

Dynamic pricing helps you better leverage margin potential and respond more flexibly to market changes. However, it requires a reliable data foundation and pricing logic that remains transparent for customers.

B2B pricing structures

In addition to fundamental pricing models, additional structures play an important role in B2B pricing. These include:

• tiered prices and volume discounts

• customer-specific price lists

• prices for large or recurring order volumes

• bundle pricing for combined services

• pricing models for subscriptions, maintenance, or usage-based billing

These structures ensure that prices align with purchasing behavior, contract models, and long-term customer relationships. They complement the models described above and determine how granularly you can manage prices in day-to-day operations.

Which factors determine effective B2B pricing?

In B2B, prices emerge from the interaction of costs, competition, customer segments, usage scenarios, data availability, and sales structures. These factors determine which prices you can enforce in the market and how stable your margins remain.

1. Cost structure and economic minimum prices

Your costs determine the price at which a deal becomes economically viable. These include material or production costs, logistics, service, support, sales, and indirect costs.

For pricing, this means:

• you need minimum prices that cover these costs

• cost structures may vary by customer segment (for example, high-support vs. standard customers)

• products with long service phases require prices that also cover future support

Costs do not define the final price, but they set the lower boundary below which pricing is no longer viable.

2. Competitive situation and market transparency

Competitive information influences how far you can move on price. Key considerations include:

• how interchangeable your product is

• which service or quality differences exist

• how price-sensitive your market is

• how visible your prices are to customers, for example through web shops or public price lists

The more comparable a product is, the narrower the price range. The more clearly you can substantiate performance differences, the greater your pricing flexibility.

3. Customer segments and willingness to pay

Customers value the same benefit differently. Willingness to pay therefore varies by industry, order volume, and use case.

• volume and order frequency

• strategic importance of the customer

• cost to serve (for example, high support effort)

• specific requirements that create value (for example, shorter delivery times or higher availability)

If you understand these differences, you can define price lists, discounts, and minimum margins by segment instead of treating all customers the same.

4. Product type and degree of differentiation

A product that delivers measurable advantages has different pricing limits than one that differentiates primarily on price.

• standard products with high comparability: narrower price range

• specialized solutions: greater flexibility, often value-based pricing

• service or maintenance models: pricing driven by service depth and response times

• spare parts or aftermarket: pricing oriented toward urgency and availability

The degree of differentiation shows how far you can deviate from market prices.

5. Sales channels and go-to-market structure

In B2B, different sales channels influence pricing: field sales, dealers, partners, ecommerce, marketplaces, or e-procurement systems. All channels require the same underlying pricing logic, but not necessarily identical prices. Key aspects include:

• channel-specific margin targets

• defined price lists per channel

• consistent discount rules so that sales and ecommerce do not work against each other

• clear mapping in ERP, CRM, and ecommerce platforms

6. Contract models and business relationships

In B2B, long-term relationships and contract structures significantly influence pricing. Examples include:

• multi-year contracts with predefined price adjustments

• volume commitments that trigger tiered pricing

• service level agreements with individual pricing impact

• framework contract conditions that differ from individual orders

7. Data availability and system integration

You can enforce better prices if your systems make the right data available:

• historical sales data (price, margin, discount)

• competitive information

• cost changes

• segment data

• demand or availability forecasts

The better these data sources are integrated (ERP, CRM, CPQ, ecommerce), the more precisely you can define and adjust pricing rules.

Guide: how to build a B2B pricing strategy

Your B2B pricing strategy is created by analyzing your current prices, defining your pricing logic, cleaning up discount structures, establishing responsibilities within your organization, and implementing the strategy technically across your systems.

Step 1: analysis

Before further developing your pricing logic, you need a clear picture of your current situation. Relevant data includes:

• regularly achieved sales prices

• discounts and deviations by customer group

• actual margins by product and segment

• outlier prices below minimum margin

• duration and structure of quote approval processes

These data points show where margins are being lost, where pricing decisions are uncontrolled, and which areas require urgent action.

Step 2: define customer segments

To manage prices deliberately, you assign customers to segments based on criteria such as:

• purchasing volume and order frequency

• industry and use case

• strategic potential

• cost to serve (for example, support effort)

• requirements that increase your value (for example, delivery time or availability)

This segmentation determines which customers accept higher prices and which require more price-sensitive logic.

Step 3: define pricing logic

This is where the structure for future pricing is created. It includes:

• list prices as a standardized starting point

• target prices you aim to achieve

• minimum prices as the economic lower limit

• pricing rules for individual segments

• positioning within or above the market price range

This architecture makes pricing decisions reproducible, regardless of whether quotes are created via sales, shop, or CPQ.

Step 4: clean up discount rules

Poorly controlled discounts are a common cause of margin losses. To regain control, you define:

• discount limits per customer segment

• exceptions and who is allowed to approve them

• historical special conditions to be eliminated or reassessed

• clear rules for cash discounts, bonuses, and payment terms

• a reduced number of discount levels to create structure

This ensures that discounts no longer depend on personal preferences or time pressure, but directly reflect your pricing strategy.

Step 5: define responsibilities

To ensure that pricing logic is applied consistently, you define roles and decision paths:

• who develops and maintains pricing rules

• who approves discounts, depending on amount or segment

• how price changes are initiated and documented

• how information is communicated internally

This avoids dependency on individual employees and ensures that everyone works with the same foundations.

Step 6: connect systems

For your pricing strategy to work in daily operations, it must be consistently reflected across all systems:

• ERP manages base prices, product master data, and costs

• CRM or CPQ applies pricing rules and provides recommendations or approvals

• ecommerce displays customer prices, tiered prices, and quotes

• pricing engines or AI models deliver analyses and price recommendations

The technical integration ensures that customers receive the same price based on the same rules, regardless of channel.

Step 7: monitor prices

A pricing strategy is only effective long term if it is reviewed regularly. This includes:

• monitoring actual prices and margins

• analyzing discount patterns and deviations

• testing in selected segments or product categories

• planned review cycles for pricing

• structured adjustment of pricing rules when market or cost conditions change

How do I bring B2B pricing into ecommerce?

Your ecommerce B2B pricing system should automatically apply conditions, tiered pricing, discount rules, and contract prices without manual intervention. Your ecommerce platform then displays exactly the prices that apply to each customer.

Typical challenges arise wherever pricing logic and systems are not well aligned, for example:

• price discrepancies between ERP, shop, and CRM due to different data states

• historically grown discount rules that are no longer transparent

• customer prices maintained as individual exceptions instead of rules

• approval processes that are time-consuming or lead to uncontrolled exceptions

• data that is insufficiently structured for AI or dynamic pricing

If you use Shopware as the basis for your ecommerce or migrate to Shopware, you have three powerful options for CRM integration:

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B2B pricing – frequently asked questions

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