PricebookTM is a piece of technology that enables you to snap a picture of your invoices and discover which items have increased in price and which have decreased in price. There are numerous advantages of using this app. Some of them are mentioned as follows:
- Keep an eye on your expenses.
- Instantly identify those stealthy 2% increases.
- Reduce profit margins.
- Maintain a low genuine cost.
Pricebook is a cutting-edge, lean firm co-founded by a Salsarian executive. It is focused on resolving research-validated difficulties involving the identification of constantly changing product pricing.
Essentially, it allows firms to rapidly identify “price creeps” in items that have increased or decreased in price. Pricebook’s mission is to empower companies to manage their expenses more effectively, improve profit margins, and become more savvy buyers.
The difficulty
The Pricebook team found a persistent pain factor for the food service sector via thorough market research – frequent supplier product pricing fluctuations. While some organizations spend considerable time examining each invoice, others just do not have the time and discover modifications after the fact. There is an unmistakable demand for improved cost awareness and purchasing strategies.
How it operates
Pricebook is an ingenious and user-friendly piece of technology that enables small company owners to reclaim control of their expenditures. They just snap a picture of their bills or send them using the mobile app. Pricebook recognises, extracts, and arranges invoice facts automatically, allowing organizations to follow price variations on their purchases.
The results
- Price fluctuations and ordering abnormalities may be identified quickly and easily.
- Since pricing adjustments are transparent, firms can make educated judgments.
- Automation of a laborious, error-prone, and manual job
Checking invoices for price increases was a necessary but time-consuming, boring, and error-prone process. Businesses are often unaware of profit-cutting price hikes until they have time to locate and compare invoices. They need a more efficient procedure.
As a result of this input, the team decided to put the original project (the inventory reordering app) on hold and instead focus on developing a new product, Pricebook.
Using data gathered during the proof of concept phase of the original project, the team began conceptualizing another stand-alone technology solution. Their goal with this product? A simple-to-use application that may automate the tedious process of matching and then comparing line items on invoices in order to monitor price changes for commonly bought commodities.
An idea formed…by simply photographing an invoice, companies could quickly observe how the price of a particular product had changed since the previous invoice. They might detect price creeps in real time and intervene swiftly to avoid profit pressure.
Research
The first research and analysis concentrated on developing a software solution capable of extracting data from invoices and organizing it in a manner that was valuable to the company.
They then needed to develop software that could extract invoice information in order to do like-to-like, unit-to-unit comparisons of commodities. Additionally, they want companies to have a single repository for all their purchase history that is easily accessible from their pocket.
The technology
Several ingenious technologies were used, including the following:
- Pre-validation and text extraction from photos using computer vision (OCR)
- Machine learning is used to precisely categorize and organize data.
- A fuzzy matching method is used to identify relevant things for the purpose of drawing comparisons between goods.
- Backend that is scalable and orchestrates the process through APIs
A cross-platform smartphone application with a unique user interface and user experience that enables users to simply track their spending, orders, items, and pricing in one place.
User evaluation
Dashboard: A single, easily-accessible location for tracking bills, suppliers, and items. Businesses may track their expenditure among vendors and quickly discover how many goods increased in price over a certain time period.
Consumption: With the click of a button, you can now check your current usage and easily see your payment history.
Camera: A newly enhanced camera with the ability to photograph multi-page bills. Improved connection with Pricebook through a variety of ways to provide more help.
User experience: Elimination of superfluous animations and simplification of the user interface.
Pricebook gives an amazing chance to collaborate with other Salsarians and establish a creative, lean firm that is a genuine pioneer in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market. Additionally, it reflects the Salsa culture by providing a space for collaborative innovation.
