IdeaRoom has a minimum 2 week lead time for updating supplier pricing. The time required will increase depending on the number of pricing regions/flyers being updated. Our support team works on pricing updates in the order received, and we prioritize pricing updates to the extent possible. During peak support times, pricing updates may take longer. This can happen when significant market events cause many suppliers to update pricing around the same time.
Follow the below guidelines to make the update process as smooth and predictable as possible:
Notify IdeaRoom when you start working on a pricing update.
Estimate the time frame in which your pricing update will be complete and ready to publish.
Coordinate in advance to release updates to your website, print, and IdeaRoom around the same time.
Provide your updates as data in Google or Excel spreadsheets.
Using consistent spreadsheet data templates will expedite the process.
Provide updated totals for the verified quotes used to automate price testing in IdeaRoom.
Pricing updates are time-consuming and costly for everyone involved, and suppliers try to limit changes to once or twice a year under normal circumstances, When pricing changes are urgent, and smooth coordination is not feasible, we recommend the following workarounds:
Apply an across-the-board percent markup to all line items of a quote.
Add a line item surcharge calculated as a percentage of the quote subtotal.
Temporarily hide or protect pricing in IdeaRoom while updates are in progress.
We are also working to provide more flexible markup formulas to a targeted set of options. Contact IdeaRoom if you’d like to provide input, feedback, or support for this effort.
IdeaRoom’s dealer subscription is a branding and re-use of data provided and maintained by the supplier. This allows dealers to benefit from integrating IdeaRoom directly into their website and sales process at a lower dealer subscription price. Dealer sites are updated automatically when suppliers publish new data. This means dealers benefit from the supplier’s substantial investment in maintaining pricing. It also means pricing is subject to constraints dealers need to be aware of and plan around when pricing changes:
IdeaRoom cannot change pricing without supplier permission; contact the supplier for pricing changes.
IdeaRoom cannot guarantee availability or quality of pricing; contact the supplier for pricing support.
Availability or usage of IdeaRoom’s automated pricing doesn’t change the service subscription price; there are options and practices for using IdeaRoom effectively without automated pricing.
Review Carport Pricing Accuracy and Dealer Options & Pricing Constraints for more information.
Dealers have the following options for managing pricing during a transition period:
Temporarily hide or protect pricing in IdeaRoom while updates are in progress.
Use prominent notifications on your website to inform customers prices are changing and manage customer expectations in sales conversations during the transition period.
Talk to your supplier about using IdeaRoom to update pricing with markup formulas, which many suppliers are using to adjust and keep pricing live while working through more detailed pricing changes.
Subscribe to IdeaRoom for Carport Suppliers for more control and flexibility; some dealers use this approach and work with suppliers to support an agreed-upon pricing model.
Maintaining high-quality pricing requires substantial investment from suppliers and close collaboration with IdeaRoom. We are working as quickly as possible to make additional options available to adapt quickly to unprecedented, rapidly changing marketplace conditions.