The past few years haven’t been easy on finance leaders charged with setting pricing strategies for their firms’ products, according to Adam Echter, a partner with the global consultancy firm Simon-Kucher & Partners and the co-author of “Beating Inflation,” a book which examines pricing and other strategies companies can use to cope with inflation. 

From 2021 to 2023 companies scrambling to keep up with the rapid onset of inflation instituted fast-paced price increases; executives called emergency meetings on the subject and ditched historical once-a-year price increases to make as many as nine in an 18-month span, Echter told CFO Dive in a recent interview.

Sentiment shifted last year, as consumers and B2B industrial customers, experiencing what Echter called “price fatigue,” pushed back against hikes after indices that had justified hikes began to decline. Then, too, the Federal Reserve’s multi-year campaign to slow the pace of price pressures brought the consumer price index rise to a 2.7% annual rate in November from 9.1% in July 2022. In 2024, as companies sought to hold prices flat, corporations’ strategy swung away from price increases and instead focused on cost cutting, Echter said.  

Now Echter is predicting that 2025 will be a year in which companies will once again go back on offense on pricing, as lower interest rates, proposed tariffs and other policies of the incoming Trump administration risk pushing up inflation.

“When you look at 2025, you get into a world that’s a little bit pro inflation, and that also means pro price increases,” Echter said. “CFOs have a little more air cover to start asking again for upward price movement.” 

Exactly how CFOs go about establishing their pricing strategy this year — whether it be by raising prices or by doing a better job explaining why a product is worth its price tag — requires a well-thought out approach. Echter offers four pricing tips for 2025, including: 

1. Make your higher price case — inside and outside your company. The smart CFO works with the sales organization to push the message about products’ higher value without adding cost, he said. “You can get further than you think by just explaining why the value has changed,” Echter said. This can be easier for industrial companies as they often have multiple opportunities to have conversations with clients. Consumer-facing companies such as grocers or other retailers face a tougher challenge this year, he said. 
2. Consider options before reducing prices. Companies largely did a good job raising prices to keep up with inflation in recent years but were less effective in explaining the price hikes, Echter said. Now they can either lean into value messaging or add some perceived new value to their product. “If you don’t or can’t do those two, then your alternative is to bring your price back down,” he said. 
3. Don’t give away the store. When developing discount strategies and promotions, it’s important to do an analysis of the market. Echter said many companies “over-rotate” and throw in extras to a product package that can be costly without realizing a customer might not even attach value to the added bonus item. “We’re going to see a lot of companies make that mistake and that’s where a CFO can step in and say, ‘Before we start adding to our costs, we want to go out into the market [and find out is] this valuable to you or not?’” 
4. Find the smart add-ons. When looking to convince customers about the value of a product, think about inexpensive upgrades you can make in your product offering, he said. For example, if your product has a one-year warranty, consider making it a two-year warranty, or if you offer 9-to-5 phone coverage try offering 24-7 phone coverage, two options that can be highly scalable at a relatively low cost, he said. “If I can find items that are valuable to my customers but they’re relatively low cost, a good CFO will start adding those in,” he said, thereby defending margin.