Land O’Lakes reinvents its pricing methodology with PROS

Land O’Lakes sells over 300 different kinds of dairy-based food items, operating facilities in all 50 states and in more than 60 countries worldwide. Cooperative members supply 12 billion pounds of milk to these facilities every year to create butters and spreads, cheese, eggs, milk, and other consumer foods and ingredients. Land O’Lakes also produces animal feed and supplies its members with agricultural products and assistance.

In an industry where margins are typically razor-thin, the company has been leaning into digital transformation to improve their operations and business model. Eventually, they began looking for science-based ways to improve their margins. Rather than narrowing their focus on an individual product line or within a specific location, Land O’Lakes wanted a holistic approach that would inspire across-the-board margin growth. To do this, they decided they needed to modernize their pricing practice. With about 20,000 SKUs and more than 6,000 dealers to do business with, this was no small challenge for the company.

Pricing nightmares prevent margin growth

Before partnering with PROS, Land O’Lakes was still using a combination of legacy systems and spreadsheets to manage their pricing processes and data. These old practices resulted in lagging operations, limited visibility, and too many different pricing variables. In short, they needed to modernize their pricing methodologies if they wanted to operate with more efficiency and fewer nightmares.

Additionally, the company wanted a partner that could help them implement eCommerce products and portals. They needed to create a frictionless digital customer experience that would let them promote and secure agreements with dealers and enable dynamic pricing across multiple channels. They hoped that having more eCommerce options would help them better serve an increasingly digital-first customer base.

Lastly, Land O’Lakes wanted to enable a pattern of constant pricing improvement. They wanted access to real-time analytics, elasticity measurement, banding, and other kinds of insights that would let them continually adapt better pricing strategies. They also needed a solution that would work across different platforms so they could tie their buying and selling cycles together for a more complete, holistic process.

Partnering with top-notch PROS experts

Land O’Lakes came to PROS looking for a partner to help modernize their pricing and motivate margin growth across all locations and product lines. PROS experts worked with the company’s sales teams to implement dynamic pricing throughout their sales cycle. Working across platforms, PROS deployed pricing automations to replace legacy operations and spreadsheets.

A new perspective on what’s possible

The dairy co-op has always embraced new technologies to provide high-quality products and service to their customers. Implementing PROS dynamic pricing tools helped Land O’Lakes rethink what’s possible when it comes to eCommerce and digital transformation—and the partnership has yielded some business-changing results.

Fast-acting automations

PROS dynamic pricing helped the company quickly derive insights and analytics without manually handling spreadsheets. They were also able to automate different decision-making processes, such as managing promotions. When a salesperson is faced with trying to decide which one of their 120 promotions to offer a specific dealer, PROS dynamic pricing helps them put the best one forward.

Working together: PROS + CloudCraze on Salesforce

Sambit Dutta, Senior Director of IT Development & Enterprise Architecture, understands the importance of a frictionless online transaction. By partnering with PROS, he wanted to build a more convenient online platform that was easy for customers to navigate and interact with. Now, Land O’Lakes has a modern eCommerce presence that makes it easier for customers to do business. By integrating PROS with their eCommerce platform, CloudCraze, they are working to deliver content and serve the right kinds of promotions based on segmentation.

“Of all the different competing vendors out there, PROS came very highly recommended. They have been a very willing partner, and the kind of people they bring in are top-notch.”
—Senior Director, IT Development & Enterprise Architecture

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