In this episode of Pricing Heroes, we speak with Pooja Gerera, VP Insights and Strategy — formerly VP of Sales and Pricing — at Zooplus, Europe’s leading online pet retailer. Over nearly a decade, Pooja has helped scale Zooplus’s pricing function from a small, experimental team into a data-driven commercial engine spanning 20 European markets. She shares her journey from systems engineering and telecom pricing to leading one of Europe’s most advanced retail pricing organizations, building automation, managing elasticity, and balancing autonomy with control through her “freedom within a framework” philosophy.

Key Topics:

• How a background in technology shaped Pooja’s approach to scalable, automated pricing
• Building Zooplus’s pricing team and evolving from manual to machine-learning models
• Segmenting assortments and applying differentiated strategies across 20 European markets
• Managing competing priorities between pricing, promotions, and sales operations
• Leadership lessons: earning trust, aligning cross-functional teams, and empowering autonomy
• Why elasticity and channel-based pricing can transform traffic and price perception
• The future of e-commerce and AI as the next major disruption in retail pricing

Recommended Resources:

• Thought leaders Pooja follows: Fabian Uhrich, Danilo Zatta, and Chris Herbert
• EPP (European Pricing Platform) events and conferences

Connect with Pooja Gerera on LinkedIn.

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Get your free copy of Get Ready for the Future Of Pricing with our A-Z Guide.

For more information about AI pricing solutions, check out our Corporate sponsor Competera.ai.

In this episode of Pricing Heroes, we speak with Barrie Carmel, a pricing, margin, and revenue management consultant with more than 30 years of experience, including senior leadership roles at Bed Bath & Beyond and Michaels. Barrie shares her journey from foodservice into retail pricing leadership and reflects on what it means to balance precision and speed, manage promotions and customer perception, and lead pricing in an era of public scrutiny.

Key Topics:

• Lessons from transitioning between B2B foodservice and large-scale retail
• How to manage complexity when in-store price execution depends on labor
• The decline of coupon culture and the challenge of generational shifts in value perception
• Why framing conversations in customer-centric terms builds credibility and influence internally
• Electronic shelf labels and AI — opportunities, risks, and why data protection is essential
• How litigation and regulation are likely to reshape fairness standards and reference pricing practices

Recommended Resources:

• Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
• Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
• Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

Connect with Barrie Carmel on LinkedIn.

Get in touch with us

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Get your free copy of Get Ready for the Future Of Pricing with our A-Z Guide.

For more information about AI pricing solutions, check out our Corporate sponsor Competera.ai.

In this episode of Pricing Heroes, we speak with Lee Mackedanz, Founder and Managing Partner of Value Capture Consulting, and a veteran pricing executive with leadership roles at Kohl’s, JCPenney, Fossil Group, Office Depot, SuperValu, and Advance Auto Parts. Lee shares his journey from merchant at Best Buy to becoming a pricing leader responsible for more than $700 million in incremental sales and margin improvements. He explains what it takes to build credibility with merchants, lead organizational change, and lay the right foundations before investing in technology.

Key Topics:

• Transitioning from merchandising to pricing leadership
• Competing with Amazon by pricing to value, not just price
• Building pricing maturity at Kohl’s and winning buy-in for a new discipline
• Why persuasion, influence, and small wins drive change management success
• How to structure promotions and discounts as strategic resources
• The foundations required for AI pricing — data, governance, and clear strategy
• Why courage, collaboration, and transparency define great pricing leaders

Recommended Resources:

• The Pricing Roadmap by Ulrik Lehrskov-Schmidt
• ChiefPricingOfficer.com

Connect with Lee Mackedanz on LinkedIn.

Get in touch with us

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Get your free copy of Get Ready for the Future Of Pricing with our A-Z Guide.

For more information about AI pricing solutions, check out our Corporate sponsor Competera.ai.