KVI In Retail — 4 Common Errors In 2022-2023

Nearly every retailer has its own KVIs list. But is that list completely accurate?

According to our statistics on client projects,
On average 20-30% of the SKUs on such a list are not true KVIs.
About 20-30% of true KVIs are unknown to category managers.

Compared to the market, the price of such "hidden KVIs" is too high and spoils the price perception of the store. "It's a pretty expensive place," consumers think and begin to visit the store's competitors more often.

This article focuses on making clear the difference between working with a proper and incorrect list of KVIs, and on demonstrating how gross profit grows due to refining of KVIs list. We illustrate all statements with examples of specific goods we saw in 2022.
1

Obvious section: what is KVI?

KVI is a product, a consumer knows exactly the price of in different stores or makes an effort to find it out. To purchase such a product, a consumer will certainly try to go to the store with the best price, unless this store creates too serious inconvenience for him.
Common example.

You eat yogurt of a particular trademark every day, and buy an eight-pack of yogurt every week. You know that in hypermarket X your preferred yogurt costs 2.47 euros for 8 pieces, in hypermarket Y it costs €2.99, in Z it costs €3.15. So every time you need yogurt, you tend to go buying food in the "good deal hypermarket" X. If you've bought yogurt in Y or Z, you feel wasteful. This 50-70 cent difference is important for you for some reason.

At the same time you see a fabric shaver for €19 in hypermarket X.
— What a great thing! — you think. — It's exactly what I need to renew my beloved cashmere pullover!
You immediately buy the trimmer, and definitely don't care if it costs €10.50 in a chinese shop at the corner.

You are satisfied, because you saved 70 cents on yogurt and bought a really useful thing.
That's how it works: the store reduces its margin by 70 cents on KVI yogurt, and gains more customer visits and, in addition, €10-€12 of margin on a clothes trimmer (on sweets and cookies, on batteries, and so on).

The difficulty is that consumers are different, and they focus on not only a KVI yogurt, but on a set of KVIs: meat, vegetables, coffee, beer, pasta — the list can differ in each case. Often, there is no store that provides the best deal for the entire KVIs list. Therefore, customers either go where most of the list is cheapest, or split their purchases into parts: "for these products I go to this store, and for those — to that one". Which store the consumer visits more often, that store more often gets €10-€12 profit "for fabric shaver".

Of course, KVI is not only about grocery retail. We use grocery examples because they help to give a clear explanation.
Notice:

Promo also shapes price perception, especially in grocery retail. But this is a separate broad topic; in this article, we only discuss KVI.
2

How can a retailer utilize KVIs?

  • Identify the complete list of KVIs — goods which affect price perception of the store, and for which a target consumer decides: "this store is expensive for me", "this store's prices are OK" or "this store is super".
  • Provide good deals on these products, considering competitors' prices, to shape the needed price perception by consumers.
  • Identify items whose price is not important for target consumers within a certain range (items with intervals of inelastic demand).
  • Charge such items' prices close to the upper limit of the "inelastic demand interval", to recoup the decrease in the KVIs' margin.
Notice:

a — The KVIs list can differ significantly even for stores of the same format within the same retail chain.

b — The KVIs list is not static and may change within a few months, including due to seasonality.
3

Common errors in the KVI strategy employment

  • Error 1. Some "KVIs" from a retailer's KVIs list are not KVIs.
    Demand for "false KVIs" is inelastic, that is, it does not change with a small (or even significant) price increase.

    What Error 1 leads to:
    The store underprices "false KVIs"; thus, it loses a part of profit on each transaction with such goods.
  • Error 2. The company considers some of its KVIs to be "ordinary goods".
    The prices of such "hidden KVIs" look like a bad deal compared to competitors.

    What Error 2 leads to:
    "They overprice a lot of products here," consumers think of the store, and visit its competitors more often. The store loses revenue and profits.
  • Error 3. For each KVI, the retailer sets the first minimal market price.
    "The first minimal market price" is the lowest price of the SKU among competitors. Such a strategy is required for some Hard KVIs; Hard KVI is a price ultrasensitive KVI type.
    Another KVI type, Soft KVI, has less elastic demand. To get maximum revenue for Soft KVI, one has to use a strategy of the second, third or even the fourth minimum price on the market.

    What Error 3 leads to:
    With a low price of Soft KVI, the retailer loses both profits and revenue.
  • Error 4. A retailer sets "not the best deal" price of a KVI with ultra-high price sensitivity.
    There are KVIs for which only the "first minimum market price" strategy is efficient, and a higher price decreases revenue and profit. For such goods, a price difference of 20 cents could be crucial.

    What Error 4 leads to:
    Consumers see the "expensive" price in the store and switch to its competitors. The store loses revenue and profits.
4

How it works in practice

How do we know about the four KVI errors mentioned above and what losses they lead to? The answer is simple: we detect these errors in almost every client project during dynamic pricing implementation.

Let's review recent examples from the retail practice in Eastern Europe and the CIS: how retailers fix KVI errors, and what result they get.
4.1

Eliminate error 1. Identify a "false KVI" and raise its price to the optimal level.

In the summer of 2022, a grocery store chain was scaling and adopting dynamic pricing across all its stores.
The chain launched dynamic pricing in a pilot store. Its results were compared to the control store, with the "old" pricing.
The retailer's KVIs list included paper napkins with high sales.

Imprice AI-driven algorithms determined that these napkins was not a KVI, but a fairly popular Foreground product, whose demand hardly changed within a certain price interval. Pricing experts increased the price of the napkins to the optimal level; the result was a significant increase in margin, gross profit and revenue, compared to the control store:
In the control store, napkins were priced as a KVI. Business results compared to the second quarter.
In the pilot store, napkins (false KVI) are priced as a Foreground product. Business results compared to the second quarter.
Revenue, gross profit and margin increased more than those in the control store, both in euros and in percentage terms.
In the pilot store, napkins (false KVI) are priced as a Foreground product. Business results compared to the second quarter.
And here is the dynamics of the entire category "Paper napkins" in the control and pilot stores:
Control store, category "Paper napkins", business results compared to the second quarter. The drop in sales was due to seasonality: July and August are the vacation seasons.
Pilot store, category "Paper napkins", the business results compared to the second quarter. Despite the low season, all indicators grew. Growth in sales in pieces was due to the identification of KVIs in other categories and leveraging KVI pricing strategy for these items. The price increase of the "false KVI" napkins to the optimal level caused the increase in margin and profits.
4.2

Eliminate error 2. Identify a "hidden KVI" and reduce its price to the optimal level.

In the summer of 2022, an online skin care cosmetics store was in the middle of a rollout process, launching dynamic pricing step by step to its entire assortment range, category by category.

Imprice AI-driven algorithms detected that one expensive shampoo was a hard KVI; that is, the demand for that shampoo was very price sensitive. The online store did not manage this shampoo as a KVI before, and did not monitor its prices on the market.

In mid-July 2022, the store launched Imprice-based monitoring of competitors' prices for the Hair Cosmetics category, including on marketplaces. At the end of July, pricing experts implemented KVI pricing strategy for the category, considering competitors' prices. Dynamic competitive KVI pricing is a strategy that ensures growth in sales almost immediately; in online stores, sales growth is particularly rapid. Here are the first results of KVI pricing in the category "Cosmetics for hair":
A screenshot of a report from the Imprice platform: sales performance of KVI shampoo before and after implementing a new competitive pricing strategy.
Before: the fifth lowest price on the market (that is, four competitors sold the shampoo cheaper); on average €41,8.
After: the second minimum price on the market; on average €40,9.
The price of the SKU started to look like a very good deal on price aggregators and in contextual advertising. Traffic on the product page grew: customers noticed a new price and visited the online store more often.


An increase in sales of a KVI leads to an increase in sales of other goods which are bought together with the KVI; such goods can be KVIs also.
For example, with the KVI shampoo, consumers often bought a KVI conditioner of the same product line.
More important fact is that with KVI consumers buy high-margin Foreground items, on which a retailer can recover a slight decrease in marginality by KVI.

Let's review the financial results — how much the store gained with the identified "hidden KVI" and on the goods that consumers bought together with this shampoo.

Sales of the KVI shampoo:
Sales of the KVI shampoo:
Sales of complementary goods (goods that were bought together with the KVI shampoo):
Sales of complementary goods (goods that were bought together with the KVI shampoo):
Total sales of the KVI and its complementary goods:
Total sales of the KVI and its complementary goods:
Remarkable details.

The price reduction attracted not "cherry pickers" (discount hunters who buy only goods with a reduced price), but people with willingness to pay, who bought more expensive high-margin products:

After the price reduction, the average quantity of KVI shampoo in the order remained the same, one piece in the order. Shampoo sales only increased because more people bought it.
Usually, "cherry pickers" buy a few units of the product, "as a reserve".

"Units per transaction" indicator (the number of goods in the order that contains this KVI) slightly decreased, because the store got a new audience with a different shopping behavior.
The "old audience" often bought with the KVI shampoo "small things" — products with a price several times lower than the price of this KVI.
The "new audience" added a little less goods to their basket, on average, but more often bought expensive high-margin positions, including those more expensive than KVI shampoo
(for example, a cream for €87 (margin €49) and a lotion for €62 (margin €24).
4.3

Eliminate error 3. Raise the price of a Soft KVI to the optimal level.

A grocery chain launched dynamic pricing in a pilot store, comparing the store's results to a control store, with the "old" pricing.

The retailer's KVIs list included a tomato sauce of a popular brand in a 500 ml package. For this item, the store always kept the first or second minimum market price.
Imprice algorithms detected that this sauce was a soft KVI, that is, up to a certain price limit, demand was barely dependent on price.
Pricing experts raised the price of this soft KVI to the optimal level, and the store got an increase in margin, gross profit and revenue compared to the control store:
Sales of KVI sauce in the control store, compared to the second quarter. The tomato sauce was priced as a hard KVI with the first or second minimum market price.
Sales of KVI sauce in the control store, compared to the second quarter.
Sales of KVI sauce in the pilot store, compared to the second quarter. The tomato sauce was priced as a soft KVI; its price was raised to the optimum level.
Gross profit grew by 35%, meanwhile in the control store growth was only about 14%.
Growth in sales in pieces was due to the identification of KVIs in other categories and leveraging KVI pricing strategy for these items.
The price increase of the "soft KVI" sauce to the optimal level caused the increase in margin.
Sales of KVI sauce in the pilot store, compared to the second quarter.
4.4

Eliminate error 4. Reduce the price of a hard KVI to the optimal level.

In the summer of 2022, a grocery store chain was scaling and adopting dynamic pricing across all its stores.
The chain launched dynamic pricing in a pilot cluster of stores. Its results were compared to the control cluster, with the "old" pricing.
All stores had the same promotions, managed by the chain's specialists. To calculate the dynamic pricing results correctly, pricing experts removed sales of promo items from reports.

The Imprice algorithms determined that one milk was a hard KVI, that is, a product with the price ultrasensitive demand.
Though the chain experts considered this milk as a KVI, they utilized the "second minimum price on the market" strategy for the item. The algorithms recommended changing the pricing strategy to the "lowest price on the market".
From July, the store implemented the new "lowest price" pricing strategy for the KVI milk.
In summer, people spend more time outside the city or go on vacation. Thus, the third quarter is the low season in grocery, and July and August are the lowest months in terms of sales — the performance of the control store showed it clearly. But in the pilot store sales of the KVI milk grew with the new pricing strategy:
Change in sales of KVI milk after setting the first minimum price (price reduction was about 6 cents)
Change in sales of KVI milk after setting the first minimum price (price reduction was about 6 cents)
Sales of KVI milk:
Sales of KVI milk:
Sales of complementary goods (goods that were bought together with the KVI milk):
Sales of complementary goods (goods that were bought together with the KVI milk)
Total sales of the KVI and its complementary goods:
 Контент Текст Total sales of the KVI and its complementary goods
Remarkable details.

The number of cash receipts that contained the KVI milk increased by 1.39 times.
Some cash receipts with KVI milk contained other KVIs.
The gross profit from sales of this KVI milk decreased by only 9 euros.
The total increase in gross profit from all goods that consumers bought with the KVI milk was 743 euros.
Due to the increase in the number of cash receipts that contained the KVI, one can ask: could it be the effect of cannibalization?
Maybe shoppers just shifted to KVI milk and stopped buying another milk, and that was the true reason for KVI's sales growth?

In the case of cannibalization, sales of the entire category do not increase. Sales in pieces remain approximately at the same level, as demand shifts to SKUs with a reduced price.
Let's compare category sales in the control and pilot clusters of stores:
"UHT milk" category sales in the control cluster compared to the second quarter. Sales in pieces and revenue decreased; this is normal for the summer months.
"UHT milk" category sales in the control cluster compared to the second quarter. Sales in pieces and revenue decreased; this is normal for the summer months.
"UHT milk" category sales in the pilot cluster compared to the second quarter. Margin decreased, but gross profit, revenue and sales in pieces increased significantly.
Therefore, there was no cannibalization.


"UHT milk" category sales in the pilot cluster compared to the second quarter. Margin decreased, but gross profit, revenue and sales in pieces increased significantly.
Entire "Dairy products" category sales in the control cluster compared to the second quarter. Sales in pieces and revenue decreased; this is normal for the summer months.
Entire "Dairy products" category sales in the control cluster compared to the second quarter. Sales in pieces and revenue decreased; this is normal for the summer months.
Entire "Dairy products" sales in the pilot cluster compared to the second quarter. All indicators grew.
Therefore, there was no cannibalization.
Entire "Dairy products" sales in the pilot cluster compared to the second quarter. All indicators grew. Therefore, there was no cannibalization.
5

Clustering — identification of the role of each SKU in the consumer basket — is one of the most important parts of the pricing

90% of the commercial success of pricing depends on how accurately a retailer divides its assortment into segments with different "price behavior" and how efficient the pricing strategy one chooses for each segment.

A pricing expert has to know:
Which SKUs should have a higher price?
Prices of what items must be compared to competitors.
Prices of what items should be calculated together, considering how they affect the sales of each other.
For which groups of products it is more profitable to maximize gross profit, and for which groups maximizing revenue or sales in pieces is better.

For our clients, Imprice machine learning algorithms perform all this analytics. READ MORE
This article highlighted how profit grows, using examples of specific products. Obviously, the assortment range of any store contains much more goods. It means, the store could have more errors in the KVI strategy employment, and more pricing errors.

The key takeaway is that each accurately determined product's role, each fixed pricing error leads to the growth in your store's profits.
Talk to Imprice pricing experts: