The Origin Story of Pricemaster

In this episode of the Pricemaster Podcast, founders Reid (CEO), Ed (Lead Developer), and Nick (Commercial Manager) sit down to share the honest, behind-the-scenes story of how Pricemaster was born—not as a commercial product, but as a solution to their own eCommerce headaches.

Originally developed to manage the fast-growing and complex operations at Trade Counter Direct, a multi-brand eCommerce business under the Select Trade Brands group, Pricemaster emerged from necessity. The team shares how they struggled to manage:

• Massive product volumes (100,000+ SKUs)
• Constant supplier price changes
• Manual pricing across multiple sites and platforms
• Inefficient tools like spreadsheets, Google Sheets, and Magento
• Delayed margin insights and profit leakage

As the business scaled, so did the chaos—and the founders knew they needed a tool that could dynamically track competitor prices, protect profit margins, and automate pricing updates intelligently. When third-party pricing tools couldn’t deliver what they needed, they built their own. That tool eventually became Pricemaster.

💡 What You’ll Learn:

• How a fast-growing eCommerce business hit breaking point with manual processes and siloed systems.
• The early development of Pricemaster and how Ed engineered it from scratch with real-time data, scalable architecture, and flexibility at its core.
• Why the team refused to accept “race to the bottom” pricing and built tools like AI Margin Miner, Dynamic Tagging, and Minimum Margin Protection to actively increase profits.
• How Pricemaster’s brand solution helps manufacturers monitor resellers, track price erosion, and identify stock gaps across the market.
• The aha moment when they realised Pricemaster wasn’t just useful for them—it could transform other businesses too.
• A powerful real-world example of a competitor with 15 people managing pricing—who still collapsed due to poor margin control.

Throughout the episode, the founders reflect on their entrepreneurial journey, balancing day-to-day operations with the challenge of creating scalable software from scratch. They also preview future innovations and explain how Pricemaster integrates with platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and more.

👥 Who Should Listen:

• eCommerce retailers drowning in pricing complexity
• Brands wanting better visibility into reseller behaviour
• Founders looking for scalable ways to increase margin without extra headcount
• Anyone interested in real-world SaaS born from real-world pain

Key Takeaway:
Pricemaster wasn’t built in a vacuum—it was stress-tested in one of the UK’s busiest eCommerce environments. It’s not just software. It’s a survival tool that became a growth engine.

FAQs

Why was Pricemaster created?

Pricemaster was created to solve real pricing and margin problems inside a fast-growing eCommerce business managing large catalogues and constant supplier changes.

Who is this podcast episode for?

It is relevant for eCommerce retailers, founders, pricing teams, and brands that want better control over margin and market responsiveness.

What problems does Pricemaster solve?

Pricemaster helps with pricing automation, competitor monitoring, margin protection, and the operational complexity of managing prices across multiple channels.

Does the podcast explain how Pricemaster grew from internal tool to product?

Yes. The episode explains how the founders built the platform to solve their own problems and then realised it could help other businesses too.

What can brands and retailers learn from the episode?

They can learn how pricing complexity affects growth, why margin discipline matters, and how software can reduce operational chaos.