2.20 Commerce Release Guide - Dynamic Pricing Reimagined

Aspenware is happy to release Dynamic Pricing Reimagined, a powerful upgrade to our legacy Dynamic Pricing tool. Enhancements include simplifying product pricing, streamlining the creation of required elements, and reducing the possibility of improper configuration. Dynamic Pricing now resides in the product editor screen of the product being priced.

Additional enhancements include a new VIEW PRICING view, valuable in assessing progress in creating pricing, as well as reporting on sales.

The Dynamic Pricing engine enables resorts to set up flexible pricing based on specific dates, the number of days booked from arrival, and pricing tiers that increase as each tier’s quantity is sold out. This allows resorts the flexibility to set demand-based pricing, fluctuating based on high volume days, off-peak days, holidays, and weekends to increase sales and profits.

Key Terms

Time Period Group (TPG) - (formerly called Season Type in Legacy Dynamic Pricing)

A Time Period Group (season type) is a collection of Time Periods that share the same pricing rules. Only one Time Period Group can be assigned to a product, but a Time Period Group can have many Time Periods assigned to it. All Time Periods within a specific Time Period Group are assigned to the product when the product is assigned to the corresponding TPG. Examples of Time Periods that could be applied to the TPG EARLY FALL: September/October Weekend, September/October Weekday.

Time Period (formerly called Season in Legacy Dynamic Pricing)

A Time Period (season) is assigned to a Time Period Groups (TPG). A Time Period (season) is a collection of dates that share the same pricing rules. A season creates a “template” of dates from which an administrator can apply pricing rules across a set of dates. Examples of a Time Period might be Early Fall, or Pre Season. Only one Time Period Group can be assigned to a product, but a Time Period Group can have many Time Periods assigned to it. 

Days to Arrival (formerly called Override Windows)

Rewarding a customer a discount for purchasing in advance starts with defining DAYS TO ARRIVAL window. Specifically, the value reflects how many days in advance the customer is booking from the start date of that trip. Common Days to Arrival Windows (formerly called override windows) examples include:

• 48 hours+ pricing - resorts often charge a lower rate to guests who are not last-minute bookers.

• Within 48 hours - resorts often charge the window rate or a slightly lower rate than what they would pay at the window.

• 30+ days - resorts may offer a larger discount if a guest books farther in advance

Base Price

Base is defined as the “Window” or “Rack Rate” of a product. It is used for calculating the percentage value of any online (discounted) price and is required. Base should be the first “price” defined in the Pricing Calendar. Base is reflected in the variants list as with variants only, never any DTA displayed. When defining base, never apply tiers. Base must be defined as the foundation level for every set of variants.

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Levels (formerly called Tiers)

A Level (tier) is defined as a pricing tier in which there are defined quantities for a set price. Once that set price has sold out, the next tier (often with a higher price) will take into effect. Levels should be generated in the order in which they are to be consumed, as the priority is set at creation. Use the description field to distinguish between tiers. Priority 1 ties are consumed first. For example:

• Tier 1 - $50 - 5 tickets available for purchase

• Tier 2 - $60 - 10 tickets available for purchase

• Tier 3 - $70 - 10 tickets available for purchase

• Tier 4 - $80 - Unlimited tickets available for purchase

Feature Description

The Dynamic Pricing feature within Aspenware Commerce enables resorts to utilize date-based pricing so that flexible prices can be set based on current market demands. Resorts are able to change prices based on date windows that take advantage of high volume days of the week, holidays, or weekends.

The following types of products can be set up for dynamic pricing:

• Products where price changes depending on the reservation date (e.g. during a certain season or on weekends, a product is sold at a higher price).

• Products that are not available every day of the season but do not use inventory pools to narrow available dates.

• Products that you wish to display the pricing calendar in order to display how much inventory is left throughout the season.

• Products that you wish to charge more on more popular dates, using tiers.

• Products that offer discounted pricing to guests who book further in advance and then charge higher rates to “last-minute bookers,” using Days To Arrival windows.

Display options

Resorts have the option to display a large interactive calendar where guests can select different attributes such as Age, Number of Days, etc that will change the values displayed on the calendar. Based on the configuration in Aspenware, guests can see:

• The number of tickets left at a specific tier

• The % savings off the window rate (calculated against the base price defined within dynamic pricing)

• The price for available dates

• The remaining quantity left at the pricing tier if configured with ‘levels and the remaining quantity left is below the defined threshold.

• Available inventory if configured with inventory in the POS and the remaining inventory left is below the defined inventory threshold.

• When a date is sold out

• When a date is not available
  
  

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Setup Checklist

Prerequisite Tasks

POS Tasks

• Follow the standard product setup requirements from Configuration: Product Shell.

  1. If you are selling these products on-site, you’ll want to set up pricing for these products so that you can leverage whatever demand-based pricing your POS makes available for on-site sales (i.e. Pricing Seasons in RTP|One)

Commerce Tasks

• Install Dynamic Pricing v2 plugin

• Configure Core Product

  1. Before dynamically pricing a product, ensure the following is true:

     1. The product is fully set up and prepared for dynamic pricing

     2. The attribute “Start Date” has been added with “[Date] [Dynamic]” added to the Text Prompt field and the control type is “Date picker”.

  2. If utilizing the large pricing calendar view then all required attributes have the Text Prompt [Pricing Calendar]
     
     

  3. All attributes and values are configured on the product, and the product attribute combination table is built out fully and perfectly. Ensure the attribute combination table has all necessary attribute combinations and there are no unnecessary rows or duplicates before proceeding.

     1. If the attribute is required to book the core product, such as Age and Number of Days, it is a Required attribute.

     2. If the attribute is an add-on attribute and does not impact the price or SKU (RTP|One product header) of the core product, it should not be Required and should not be present in the attribute combination table. (e.g. An add-on rental to a ticket or lesson should not be required or included in the product attribute combination table).

     3. The SKUs have been entered in the product attribute combination table.

     4. Only combinations that require dynamic pricing show in the combination table. Add-ons should not be included in the combinations. 

• Add Product Classification(s)

  1. Go to Aspenware Commerce > Product Classifications and click Add assignment.

  2. Select the product you created above.

  3. It is required to assign the ‘Is Dynamically Priced’ product classification.

  4. If you’d like to show the large pricing calendar view, scroll to ‘Show pricing calendar view’ and click Assign checkbox.

  5. Optionally if the product has inventory controls and is a multi-day product, you’ll want to allow consecutive multi-day selections. If this is not necessary for your product, skip to the next step.

  6. If you’d like to require consecutive multi-day selection, scroll to ‘Is Consecutive Multi-Day Product’ and click Assign checkbox.

• Click Add.

• Optional Product Setup

  1. The following steps are optional but are commonly used for dynamically priced products.

     1. Set up inventory pools for the product. See Inventory Configuration for instructions.

     2. Add reloadable media for the product. See Pass Media Reload Configuration for instructions.

     3. Set up [Cutoff Days] and/or [Cutoff Time] in product attributes if you'd like to limit the availability of products within a certain number of days/hours from purchase.

• Verify Plugin Dynamic Pricing v2 plugin is installed, enabled, and configured.

  1. Go to Configuration > Local Plugins, search Group ‘Aspenware,’ and verify Dynamic Pricing v2 is installed and enabled.

  2. To enable, Edit the plugin, click on “Is enabled”

  3. Save
     
     

Settings, Language Strings and/or HTML Widgets for this Feature

Settings

Language Strings

If you are adding the Dynamic Pricing Savings Display to the PDP, you have the ability to show and hide the amount remaining beneath the savings display. Resorts on 2.16 or later will have the amount remaining automatically enabled. If you care to disable this feature follow the instructions below:

• Go to Configuration > Languages > Edit

• Scroll to the bottom and add the language string Resource Name shown in the table below

• Add the text you would like displayed beneath the price on the PDP in the Value field making sure to keep the {CountRemaining} token which will display the inventory # remaining (in the above example {CountRemaining} = 614

• Select Add new record.

Detailed Setup Guide

1. Create Days To Arrival Windows

2. Configure Time Period Groups and Time Periods

3. Define Tiers (Optional)

4. Open Pricing Calendar to Price Products

5. Assign Pricing

6. Export/Import Excel Pricing Spreadsheet

7. (Optional) Add Dynamic Pricing Savings Display to PDP

To Dynamically Price a product, on the product editor screen, scroll down to the bottom and expand the Dynamic Pricing Tab.

1. Create Days to Arrival Windows

• Click +DAYS TO ARRIVAL and populate the Name and Days Start Fields. Days Start is the number of days from the arrival date when the pricing window will apply. For example, if setting up an ‘outside of 48 hours’ window, set this to 2 and it will apply two days out from the arrival date if there isn’t a more specific (closer to arrival date) level set that applies to the reservation date. 
  
  

• Save

2. Configure Time Period Groups and Time Periods

When first configuring a product for dynamic pricing, you’ll be presented with an option to assign an existing Time Period Group to a product or create a new one.

After the product has initially been set up, there are three options available when you click the TIME PERIODS OR GROUPS BUTTON

• Create a Time Period Group. If a TIme Period Group has already been created for which this product will utilize the same rules, skip this step, and simply assign an existing Time Period Group.

  1. Select + CREATE A TIME PERIOD GROUP, this will be used as a grouping for related Time Periods for example, 21-22 WINTER SEASON would be the Time Period group that will house the following Time Periods: 21-22 Early and Late Season Dates, 21-22 Peak Dates, and 21-22 Off-Peak Dates.

  2. Enter the group name (e.g. 21-22 Winter Season)

  3. Click SAVE TIME PERIOD GROUP
     
     

• Assign a Time Period Group (TPG) to the product

  1. Select + ASSIGN A TIME PERIOD GROUP

  2. Time Period Groups can be assigned, if they have already been created, but are not currently assigned to this product.

  3. Select Assign Time Period Groups,

  4. Locate and select the TPG select

  5. Click SAVE.
     
     

      

• Create a Time Period

  Time periods are the pattern of days that you wish to apply a specific pricing strategy. A time period can be defined by days of the week (Saturday, Sunday) or dates (Monday, September 6), or a combination of both.

  1. Enter a descriptive name (e.g. 21-22 Weekends/Holidays)

  2. Order is assigned automatically.

  3. Select an existing TIME PERIOD GROUP (you cannot SAVE without assigning a Time Period Group., so be sure you have defined the group before defining the period or assigned an existing TPG to the product.)

  4. Enter a start date and end date for the period (this can correspond with your season, or go far out into the future, depending on what you are building)

  5. Click on the DAY OF THE WEEK to apply to the schedule or CLICK ON SPECIFIC DATE IN CALENDAR to add that date.

  6. Use the calendar widget to deselect highlighted days that follow the rules defined above to remove them from the season, or to select days that do not follow the rules defined above to add them to the season. Ultimately the days that get added to the Time Period will be the dates that are highlighted on the calendar. In the example below, because Sept 6 is selected, even though it does not follow the pattern of Sat/Sun dates between 8/17 - 10/31, it will be included in the Time Period’s set of dates.

  7. Select + CREATE TIME PERIOD

  8. Repeat for all Time Periods that will be added to the Time Period Group.
     
     

3. Define Levels (formerly called Tiers)

Tiers offer the opportunity to sell various amounts of inventory at different prices, on the same day. Some resorts use tiers to attract attention with dramatically reduced prices on only a few tickets, known as loss-leaders, while others choose to sell all products at the same price, and choose to not define or use tiers.

• Click + LEVEL to add a level. Levels are automatically Named (Tier 1, Tier 2) in the order they are produced and are consumed starting with the lowest Tier (1) and ending with the highest.

• Populate the Description with a helpful descriptor, such as ‘15% discount’ or ‘lowest price’, which will be helpful when you are pricing products.

• Click SAVE.

4. Assign Pricing

• Click on the Pricing Calendar tab to begin applying pricing to the product.

• Use filters to select different variant combinations, in combination with time periods.

• In the example, 5 & Under, with the defined DAYS TO ARRIVAL of “10 Days Out” and “A Week Out” are selected.
  
  

• The Variants you have selected are displayed on the right, and you can select a single time period or multiple time periods to price. Once you have selected your time period, click SET PRICES
  
  

• The SET PRICES window appears, in a collapsed state, displaying Variant combinations you are pricing.

• If multiple time periods were selected, you will be required to select a single Time Period to define pricing for. Once the time period is selected, the variants will be selectable.

• Expand the Base tab by clicking the down arrow, and assign a price. For the BASE only, do not define levels.

• SAVE.
  
  

• To Price the remaining variant combinations, simply expand each window, and SAVE after assigning prices and any desired Price Levels and Quantities. SAVE after setting each window, then collapse it and expand the next.

• Click CLOSE when you have finished pricing all the selected Variants.
  
  

   

• Priced Products display in the calendar, which will also indicate if Tiers have been defined.

• Use the REVIEW PRICING Tool to help organize pricing of complex products, as well as view sales.

• You can click through the calendar to view a specific date. The calendar indicates how many variant combinations have been priced on a specific date. If you click on the date, the window shows you which variant combinations have the pricing applied.
  
  

• If you expand the view, it shows you what the settings are, and also how many were sold at that price and/or Level.

5. Export/Import Excel Pricing Spreadsheet Using Legacy Dynamic Pricing Tool (not updated in 2.20)

If using multiple tiers and override windows it is recommended to use Aspenware’s Import Pricing upload to manage pricing. Importing pricing works for all variations of dynamically priced products, including products with tiers restricting the quantity of certain prices, override windows, and more.

Once a product is “dummy priced,” or priced with real values, the pricing export can be download and re-imported.

• Go to Aspenware Commerce > Import Pricing search for the desired product using the product name, category, or both. 

• If the product is set up with tiered pricing, there will be two buttons under Import Pricing. Products that have tiers require downloading and uploading two separate spreadsheets.

• Import Pricing: This will be used whether the product has tiers or not. If tiers are not set up on a product, this is the only option you will see. Use this link to import pricing for Base pricing and all Override pricing.

• Import Tiered Pricing: Only visible if the product has tiered pricing setup. Use this button to price tiers and input available quantities for each tier.
  
  

• Click Import Pricing button > then under the “Download” header complete the following:

  1. Start Date: Enter earliest date you want to update

  2. End Date: Enter the last date you want to update

  3. Click Prepare Import Spreadsheet

• When the export is done, the spreadsheet will look similar to the image below. Find the variant(s),  override window combination(s), and date(s) you wish to update. Then update the price, setting the inventory using the rules outlined below.
  
  

• Go to Aspenware Commerce > Import Pricing search for the desired product using the product name, category or both. 

• Click Import Pricing button > then under the “Download” header complete the following:

  1. Start Date: Enter earliest date you want to update

  2. End Date: Enter the last date you want to update

  3. Click Import Pricing Spreadsheet

  4. Click Ok

• If the product being priced doesn’t have tiers, the import is complete. Be sure to check the product in the Dynamic Pricing plugin to ensure prices were properly updated as expected. 

• To prepare the Import Tiered Pricing (WITH tiers), follow the same steps as above, however, define the “available inventory” quantity to have the inventory that is available at that price before the price bumps to the next tier. 

 6. (Optional) Add a Pricing Savings Display to the PDP

To show an old price on a product that is dynamically priced follow the instructions below:

• Go to Catalog > Products > Select your product.

• Select the Advanced tab at the top of the product admin page.

• Scroll to the Price widget.

• Type the price that you would like your product to be compared to in the Old Price field.

Known Issues

If you only have one tier defined, the tier price is not showing in the pricing calendar admin view. A tier is set up https://qa.aspenwarecommerce.net/Admin/Product/Edit/839 for all 7 days out windows, but the tiers are not displaying in the pricing calendar admin view. Prices are populating properly in the shop. If I add a second tier and price both tiers, the tiered prices show.