Fighting talk: the medtech price wars

Nine out of ten medtech companies are worried about rising price pressure and half of the industry players say they are actively engaged in a price war.

These are the key findings of a medtech-specific industry analysis from the Global Pricing Study 2016, conducted the international strategy and marketing consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners.

Approximately 2,200 managers in leading positions from more than 40 countries and across all major industries participated in this year’s study, including approximately 100 participants from the medtech industry.

The growing competition with low-cost providers (52%), increase in professional procurement processes (47%), and clients’ stronger negotiation power (44%) are the most important reasons for price pressure mentioned by medtech players. The result? Only five out of ten companies state they have managed to increase their margins compared to the previous year.

Global Pricing Study’s top 12% of medtech companies say investing in price management has put them in a much better position than their competitors. Their profits are up to 40% higher than the rest. That’s almost 50% higher profit than the average of all other industries. "These numbers underline the strong impact of efficient price management and the huge potential it holds," explains Carlos Meca, director at Simon-Kucher.