The challenge
Our client competes in low-margin, sealed-bid sales where the lowest price wins - but no one ever sees what rivals bid, and order quantities are unknown in advance.
Bidding blind, every day
The business runs on sealed bids where the lowest price wins and competitors' offers are never revealed - like a poker game where you can't see the other players' cards or bets, only whether you won or lost. Order quantities are unknown up front, which makes margins hard to forecast.
Win rate vs. profitability, with no clear dial
Every price was a trade-off between winning the deal and protecting the margin, with no reliable way to balance the two. Too low and profit leaked; too high and the sale went to a competitor.
Pricing was manual and inconsistent
Prices were set largely by hand, leaning on estimated minimum margins and maximum prices. The result was inconsistent outcomes across the catalog and significant ongoing pricing effort.
What we built
We built an AI-driven pricing engine from scratch - data analysis, feature engineering, model development and production deployment - in under six months. It sets optimal daily prices, and the breakthrough came from not giving up when the first version underdelivered.
Results
The second iteration delivered what usually can't be had together: more profit and more sales, at the same time.
AI-optimized pricing raised profitability by 15–20% - lowering prices where money was being lost unnecessarily and raising them where margin was being left on the table.
Sales volume grew by over 10% at the same time - two metrics that normally trade off against each other.
Data analysis, feature engineering, model development and deployment, delivered in under six months with a short payback period.
Optimal prices are now set automatically every day, cutting manual pricing work and making outcomes consistent across the whole catalog. The solution keeps generating value month after month.
