Dynamic Pricing

What is Dynamic Pricing?

Much like the airline and ride-sharing industry does, you may want to offer differently priced products to different segments of your customer based on data analysis.  Together with third-party dynamic pricing companies, such as PriSwing or Sagacity, CPS provides the ability to create dynamic prices using Dynamic Price Class Groups which are made up of one or more of your Customer Classifications.

Tip: While there is no technical limitation in our software, we suggest that you create and use a practical number of these Dynamic Price Groups.  Once these groups are defined and set up in Starter Hut, the third-party dynamic pricing company, will then run their algorithms for generating the pricing based on the behavior of the given groups that you created.  The dynamic pricing company can do this in the background automatically when enabled and is analyzing the right price at the right time for the right customer; it can analyze anything from weather to historical tee sheet data to]calculate the ideal price of any given day. The different Dynamic Pricing Class Groups that you create can get different dynamic prices at different times. A popular example is Resident vs. Non-Resident pricing.

Steps Overview

1. Setting up a new dynamic price rate in Inventory as well as for each store, taxes, and packages.

2. Setting up green fee rates in Starter Hut.

3. Setting rates for dynamic pricing for courses in Starter Hut.

4. Enabling dynamic price for the customer’s class in Starter Hut.

5. Setting up dynamic pricing class groups in Starter Hut.

6. Book a green fee with dynamic pricing set.

Setting up a new dynamically priced rate in Inventory

You need to make a new item which you will use in the set up of the new third-party pricing company-rate in the Inventory module. This item can be used for all stores within the database, and can be set to be tax inclusive per store if needed.

To learn more on why you would set this up, click here>>ClosedYou do this mainly for reporting. Ultimately, when a product is sold, it ends up on a sales report and rolls up to a GL-Account for accounting.  To differentiate the segmentation of products sold to your Dynamic Priced Groups, you need to have different SKU’s or packages recorded with the corresponding sales.  Further, you may want to have different SKU’s or packages over the course of a given day.  For example, you may want to set up a package in the morning that includes breakfast while the afternoon would have lunch and the evening may just be a twilight green fees. Regardless of the setup (package or individual SKU), a third-party interface will dynamic price only the green free and/or the product involved.  For this reason, when considering the third-party dynamic pricing interface, like the PriSwing portal, keep in mind that although you may be using a package set up in CPS, that the end pricing that you will be seeing is the green fee component pushed to your tee sheet from the third-party company.]

Quick overview

  1. Create the new inventory item rate with the correct tee sheet/sales category and taxes (for a tee sheet).

  2. Set up the stores which are selling "fees" dynamically priced.

  3. Create packages with carts, etc

To set up the green fee items in Inventory, do the following:

  1. In Inventory, select New Product.

Note: You can look up and edit an existing product also.

  1. Select TeeSheet from the Item Type drop-down field. Note:ClosedThis selection is what limits the Green Fee’s Product code field in Starter Hut | Rates.

  2. Select the Supplier.

Note: The green fee inventory item needs to be created for the rates to be set up properly. The software will force you to provide a supplier every time a new product is made. You should have your course/company set up as a supplier.

  1. Select from the Category drop-down a category for accounting purposes. Most reports have the Sale Category as a filter option. GL codes are also assigned to sale categories, which is important for the accountants to have correctly.

  2. Accept or enter a Product Code. This is your SKU.

Note: The Product Code or SKU will either be automatically generated if you have the [Inventory option Auto Generate Item Code] selected; if not, you must enter a  unique string of characters that you manually type in when creating this new product. This will be the code that you enter for your Green Fee rates when creating rates in Starter Hut.

  1. Enter into the Description field exactly what you want the customer to see on the receipts.

  2. The Catalog Cost, Catalog#, Size and Color fields should/could be left blank.

  3. In the Tax Code drop-down field, add your State’s tax code.

  4. Do NOT select the Tax Inclusive Price checkbox because it does not work with dynamic pricing.

  5. Make sure the Track Inventory button reads NO. You may need to scroll down to check.

  6. Click the Save button.

Tip:  If you have courses in different tax jurisdiction with different tax rates, you need to configure each course separately all the way back to the product SKU so that each SKU has a different tax code.

12. If you have more than one store, set those up and add any packages you want to include.

Setting up rates in Starter Hut

The next step, in Starter Hut, is to set up the rate that you will use for the third-party company interface. Since the pricing is dynamically priced, you won’t need to worry about using season codes or day of week rates.

To set up the rates, do the following:

  1. In Starter Hut, select Admin | Pricing | Rate. The Rate Screen displays to the right.
  1. Enter into the Rate Description field a description for this rate.
  2. Select Add at the bottom of the screen to create a new dynamic price rate. The Manage Rate Information screen displays.

Note: This will be used in Dynamic Price Rate drop-down fields when setting rates for the dynamic pricing for your courses later.

  1. From the Site drop-down field, select the site for this rate.

  1. From the Course drop-down field, select the course for this rate.

  1. Leave the Round Type field blank.

  1. (Optional) From the Color drop-down field, select your desired color.

  1. In the Rate code field, enter a unique number and/or letters that you create.

  1. Select Normal for the Item Code.

  1. Do not select anything for the Rate Group or the checkboxes below.

  2. In the box to the left, click the small arrow to the left of Green Fee. It drops down to display Green Fees 9 and Green Fees 18.

  3. Enter an item code for each Green Fees and Cart Fees in the Product code field by doing the following:

  1. Click the Green Fee 9. The Product code field displays to the right.

  1. Click inside the Product code field and start typing either part of the product code or description of the inventory item; a list or an item displays from which you select. This is the rate you created in Inventory when you created a new green fee.

NOTE: Only items from the Inventory that were created with Green Fees as the category will be listed here.

  1. Double-click the item from that list. The code of the item displays in the Product code field.

  1. If needed, repeat by selecting Green Fee 18 and entering the product code using steps 12b and c, and then the Cart Fees as needed in the same way.

Tip: If you forgot the codes to enter in the Product code field, go to the Inventory module to search for the codes. You can copy the Product code from that field and navigate back to paste it into the Product code field.

Note: Cart Fees are always listed on this screen and you need to set a price for them otherwise NO carts can be added at the time of booking if you do not set them up here. However, the third-party company does not dynamically price cart fees.

  1. Click Save when you are finished setting these rates.

Setting rates for dynamic pricing for courses in Starter Hut

Next, you need to set up the booking options for each course as it relates to your dynamic pricing, so that the rate you use from the third-party dynamic pricing company is assigned to the courses that are set up.

  1. In Starter Hut, select Admin | Settings | Booking Option.

  2. From the top of the screen, select the site on the left-hand side, and then select the course to apply the dynamic price rate from the Course section to the right to be used by your third-party dynamic pricing company.

  1. (#1 - REQUIRED) From the Dynamic Price Rate drop-down field, select the rate that is to be used for dynamic pricing. Whatever rate is assigned here will be given to the [golfers who are set] to use the dynamic price rate.

  2. (#2 - RECOMMENDED) From the Deal Reference Rate drop-down field, select the rate to be used in the calculation of the % savings the golfer receives from the third-party service.

Note: The calculation is (Dynamic Price Rate) / (Deal Reference Rate). If the Dynamic Price Rate is set to a lower price than the Deal Reference Rate for that set time, the online reservations page will show the % savings that the golfer is getting.

  1. (#3 - OPTIONAL) From the Default Class Curve drop-down field, select the rate that is used when you have multiple curves and want a particular curve to be shown when the golfer first loads the online reservation site.

Note: The online reservation site uses the Retail class pricing as default before a golfer logs in, so in the event that you have multiple price models or curves and Retail cannot be assigned to them, you’ll set this option for the course. It will show the pricing for the dynamic price curve. In PriSwing you setup a min and max price you want for each of the Dynamic Groups then they will calculate the price of a green fee for a given time and day. This becomes the "curve" since the price is increasing and decreasing throughout the day that you select here in the drop-down by default online instead of the pricing for retail.

  1. Click Save at the bottom of the screen then repeat to assign rates in the Dynamic Price Rate drop-down field for all courses using the dynamic pricing.

WARNING: Without a rate selected from this drop-down, dynamic pricing will not be available for that course.

  1. Make any other changes to this course at this time if needed.

  2. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click the Save button.  Update completed displays to the right of the Save button.

Note: If you have multiple courses, you need to do this for each course.

  1. Exit Starter Hut.

Enabling the dynamic price for the customer’s class in Starter Hut.

The following steps allow you to assign a rate to a specific class of customers in which to apply the dynamic price. In Starter Hut, go to Admin | Pricing | Customer’s Class, edit each class that is going to be getting the dynamic pricing.

  1. Go to Starter Hut | Admin | Pricing | Customer’s Class.

  2. Select the Class Code from the list of class codes in the right-side of the screen or click Add to Add a Class Code now.

  3. Select the Use dynamic price checkbox.

  1. Click Save. The class list displays again.

  2. Repeat for each customer’s class code that you want set for dynamic pricing.

  3. Exit Starter Hut.

Setting up dynamic pricing class group in Starter Hut

The Dynamic Price Class Group created in Starter Hut is a group of customer classes that will be using the dynamic price assigned to that group. For example, you can create a group called Adult and have all of your classes of public, retail, resident, and non-resident players under the one curve. They would all be assigned the same rate if they are in the same group. A second group could be created for seniors, juniors, military, or any other similar groups that still need to be dynamically priced but at a different rate than the standard golfer.

  1. In Starter Hut, select Admin.

  2. Select Pricing in the lower-left corner of the screen.

  3. Select Dynamic Price Class Group from the top-left part of the screen.

  4. Click the Add button. The screen changes to include fields with Group Name displayed at the top.

  1. Type a name for the group you want to create, for example, Resident.

  2. Select the Rate Code. Use the one you set up in the Starter Hut Rates screen.

Note: The Rate Code is set up in the Starter Hut module, in Admin | Pricing | Rate. Once a rate is created in that option, it displays in this drop-down.

  1. Make sure the Dynamic radio button is selected.

  2. Select the Booking Method radio button as needed: Both, Local or Online.

WARNING: If you just USE the Online option, you will NOT get the price at the local terminal or shop. If you don’t use the BOTH options, YOU NEED TO SET A PRICE in the Retail Price field in Inventory.

  1. Select each Customer Class from the left-side, Available Class list that you want to include in this new group, then select the  >>  to move the selected group to the right Selected Classes column. Repeat for each desired class.

Note: Customer Class is set up in Tools | Options Reference Tables | Customer Class.

  1. Click the Save button when finished. The new Dynamic Price Class Group is listed.

Note: You can use the Edit and Delete buttons as needed for these dynamic pricing groups that you created.

  1. Exit from Starter Hut. At this point, you have set up everything for dynamic pricing to run. However, you may want to work with your 3rd party pricing company on how much (rate ranges) for who (class groups), and when the dynamic price is pushed into the Club Prophet system.

The third-party push of the dynamic price

The service that you have selected to handle your dynamic pricing will need to be set up. Refer to their help and support in order to do this. You will most likely have to set a minimum and maximum rate in their system and decide whether you want to manually push the price or have it happen automatically. If you are using PriSwing as your service, for example, you could set their Autopilot mode to calculate pricing four times every four hours throughout the day starting at 8:00 AM.

Work with your service to set up how, when and where you want the dynamic pricing to occur.

Booking a dynamically priced tee time

If you want to book a dynamically priced tee time, you need to set it up prior to booking or it will not be priced as such.

  1. Select the tee sheet that has been set up to have dynamic pricing pushed to it.

  1. Reserve a time on the tee sheet using a customer who falls under the criteria previously set up for dynamic pricing. The Dynamic Rate Code shows somewhere in the cell.

    When booking a tee time in CPS Air, the dynamic pricing also displays there.

Note: Auction Detail shows the difference between your groups set up.

Example in CPS Air

Example in the local terminal running POS Express

In Online Reservations