Nearly every company is adjusting prices, but only half feel confident they understand the financial impact, according to Zilliant’s Pricing Without Control report.
“Pricing has never been more active or more visible at the executive level,” says Zilliant CEO Pascal Yammine. “But activity alone isn’t enough. When pricing decisions are made across fragmented systems without governance, companies face customer attrition and executive accountability without real control.”
Key takeaways:
· 99% of companies adjusted prices in response to economic pressure, with 43% increasing prices by 11-20%. Yet only 50% of executives report strong confidence in their visibility into margin impact, suggesting pricing is being managed, but not controlled.
· 62% of organizations report losing 6–10% of customers directly tied to pricing changes, indicating that reactive pricing is straining customer relationships.
● More than half of organizations now adjust pricing within 1–3 months, a fundamental shift from the annual cycles that once defined pricing strategy. However, increased frequency is not translating into stability: 49% report negative customer reactions to pricing changes and 62% report losing customers due to pricing decisions.
● Pricing demands are increasing organizational strain: 61% rework pricing decisions 3-4 times per year or more and more than 30% of executives report feeling exhausted.
● An equal share of organizations (46%) either passed cost increases to customers or absorbed them to remain competitive, often simultaneously. Even when executives can identify the sources of margin erosion, they struggle to control them. 37% cite price wars as a primary source of margin erosion; 34% point to inconsistent discounting; 29% cite inconsistent governance; 27% attribute it to siloed decision-making across teams; and 22% cite unauthorized overrides.
● Pricing ownership has shifted to the C-suite, with 88% of organizations placing pricing accountability with the CEO, CFO, or CRO. Yet pricing execution remains fragmented. 23% use AI-enabled pricing solutions; 20% use non-AI vendor tools; and 18% still rely on spreadsheets.
