U.S. companies are navigating a dangerous economic convergence: consumer spending forecast to fall to 1.8% in 2025-2026 (down from 2.8% in 2024), while tariffs and inflation push costs to multi-year highs. In this environment, pricing has become a critical lever for maintaining profitability. Yet Zilliant’s 2025 Pricing Technology Trends survey reveals a troubling disconnect: while 84% of companies express confidence in their pricing capabilities, only 25% have formal policies in place. This gap is proving costly as traditional approaches to pricing falter in volatile market conditions.
The warning signs are unmistakable, but the opportunity for preparation sets this moment apart. Unlike COVID, which created a sudden economic shock and forced companies into reactive crisis mode, today’s volatility is building gradually. Tariffs, rising input costs, and persistent inflation are creating sustained pressure that demands a strategic response, not emergency triage. The difference is critical: companies have time to build capabilities before the next shock hits. Organizations that implement structured, data-driven pricing methodologies now will not only withstand ongoing instability—they’ll capture market share as competitors struggle to adapt.
As consumer spending tightens, pricing has become a key way for companies to build trust. People are going to be increasingly cost-conscious, and companies that fail to explain or justify price changes can make or break customer trust.
McDonald’s demonstrates how transparency becomes strategy. By bringing back their extra value meals, McDonald’s acknowledged the financial pressures their customers are facing and offered a tangible way to stretch their dollars. McDonald’s positioned itself as a brand that has compassion and understanding for what their customers are going through, turning pricing transparency into a competitive advantage.
The gap between confidence and execution is where many organizations fall short. Pricing has become a C-suite issue; without formal pricing methodologies in place, decisions are inconsistent and reactive. These methodologies create structured, repeatable approaches that evaluate demand elasticity, competitor moves, and market conditions in real time, capabilities that legacy spreadsheets cannot deliver.
Three Strategies Leading Companies Should Implement:
- Communicate Price Changes with Context: Leading companies recognize that how price changes are communicated can be just as important as the change itself. Providing transparency by explaining the reasoning behind adjustments, whether it’s rising costs, enhanced value, or changing market conditions. This approach builds trust, reduces pushback, and reinforces the brand’s credibility.
- Align Messaging to Ensure Consistency: Pricing communication is most effective when every part of the organization is aligned. C-suite involvement is very important, and making sure the organization, top to bottom, knows the message and rationale behind these decisions. This consistency prevents confusion, strengthens internal confidence, and ensures that customers receive a clear, unified explanation.
- Plan to Anticipate Shifts and Adjust Proactively: Rather than reacting to market volatility, successful companies use tools and data analytics to identify shifts before they occur. This allows them to adjust their strategies in advance, thus protecting margins, maintaining competitiveness, and ensuring business continuity in changing economic environments.
Pricing agility has become one of the most powerful competitive advantages in volatile markets—but agility doesn’t mean improvisation. It requires organizational capabilities, formal governance, and technology infrastructure that most companies have not yet built.
The next 12-18 months represent a critical window. Companies that treat this period as a training ground—establishing pricing methodologies, investing in technology, building cross-functional capabilities—will enter the next disruption with decisive advantages. Those that wait for stability to return (it won’t) will find themselves perpetually behind competitors who transformed pricing from a tactical function into a strategic capability.
The question isn’t whether market volatility will continue. It’s whether your organization has the capabilities to respond effectively when it does. The time to build pricing resilience is now—before the next shock forces you into reactive mode.