New research of 255 senior executives reveals widespread plans for price increases, stronger growth expectations, and significant opportunities to protect profitability through smarter pricing strategies.
TYSONS CORNER, Va., Oct. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Blue Ridge Partners, a global management consulting firm specializing in profitable revenue growth, today announced findings from its fifth annual executive pricing survey, revealing that companies across the software, business services, and industrial sectors are planning price increases of approximately 4–5% in 2027. However, many executives expect costs to rise faster than their planned pricing adjustments, potentially putting profit margins at risk.
The findings are detailed in Blue Ridge Partners' newly published report, How to Budget for Your 2027 Price Increases, based on a 2026 survey of 255 C-suite executives from U.S. and European companies with annual revenues between $100 million and $5 billion.
The research highlights a critical challenge for business leaders as they finalize 2027 budgets: how to exercise pricing power while balancing rising costs, changing customer expectations, and the growing influence of AI.
"Many companies are entering 2027 with pricing plans that may not fully offset their anticipated cost increases," said Brian Bailard, Senior Managing Director and Pricing Practice Co-Leader at Blue Ridge Partners. "What's particularly striking is that companies implementing larger price increases in 2026 generally experienced no greater customer pushback than those taking more conservative approaches. That suggests executives may have more pricing flexibility than they realize, provided they have the right strategy and commercial execution capabilities in place."
Key Findings: 2027 Pricing and Growth Outlook
Companies are planning another year of price increases. Software and business services companies anticipate median price increases of 5% in 2027, while industrial companies expect increases of 4%. These expectations are relatively consistent across geographies and company sizes.
Cost pressures threaten profitability. Business services companies anticipate average variable cost increases of 5.4%, exceeding their planned median price increases of 5%. Similarly, industrial companies in the U.S. expect cost of goods sold to rise 5.5%, compared with planned median price increases of 4%.
Software companies are increasingly optimistic about growth. Software executives project median revenue growth of 12% in 2027, compared with 7% anticipated for 2026 in last year's survey. Business services companies expect 8% growth, while industrial companies anticipate 6%.
More aggressive pricing has not necessarily generated greater customer resistance. Only 7% of companies reported unsuccessful results from their 2026 pricing actions. Companies implementing larger price increases reported the same or less negative customer and market reaction than those pursuing smaller adjustments.
Pricing optimization remains a major executive priority. Between 50% and 60% of surveyed companies, across sectors, geographies, and company sizes, plan to undertake significant pricing optimization initiatives in 2027.
AI Is Reshaping Pricing Strategies
Beyond traditional pricing challenges, the survey reveals how AI is changing revenue models, operating costs, and customer expectations.
Among software companies, outcome-based pricing models are projected to increase from 5% of companies today to 23% within the next two years, while user-based pricing is expected to decline from 26% to 8%.
At the same time, 75% of software companies lack an AI pricing enablement program for their commercial teams.
The research also identifies substantial opportunities to improve pricing execution. Software executives estimate that implementing five critical pricing enablement programs could generate an additional 6.7% in revenue growth, yet only 7% of surveyed software companies currently have all five programs in place. See our article on The Five Keys to AI Pricing.
In the business services sector, executives estimate that AI has already reduced the cost of delivering services by approximately 7%, with reductions expected to reach approximately 17% by 2028. However, respondents report that 29% of their customers expect AI-driven efficiencies to translate into some form of price reduction.
"AI is fundamentally changing the economics of how companies deliver value, but many organizations haven't adapted their pricing strategies to reflect that shift," Bailard said. "For software companies, the move toward outcome-based pricing represents a significant opportunity to better align revenue with customer value. For business services firms, the challenge is capturing the benefits of AI-driven productivity without simply passing all of those savings back to customers. For industrials companies, it means being smart about how much of the tariff and energy price increases to roll-back in 2027. The winners will be companies that rethink how they price, communicate value, and equip their commercial teams to execute."
Pricing Strategy Takes Center Stage in 2027 Growth Planning
The survey also underscores the growing importance of pricing strategy to broader revenue growth initiatives.
Respondents expect price increases to account for 11% of their companies' 2027 revenue growth, while go-to-market improvements, including AI-driven sales productivity, channel effectiveness, and customer retention, are expected to account for 34%.
For CEOs, CFOs, and commercial leaders, the findings suggest that protecting profitability in 2027 will require more than routine annual price adjustments. Companies will need to evaluate pricing models, customer value propositions, commercial execution capabilities, and opportunities to improve price realization.
Access the Full 2027 Pricing Research
Blue Ridge Partners' How to Budget for Your 2027 Price Increases provides detailed findings by industry, company size, and geography, including revenue growth expectations, anticipated price increases, cost pressures, and pricing optimization opportunities.
Read the full report: How to Budget for Your 2027 Price Increases — Blue Ridge Partners
About the Survey
In 2026, Blue Ridge Partners surveyed 255 executives from software, business services, and industrial companies in the United States and Europe, with annual revenues ranging from $100 million to $5 billion or equivalent amounts in euros and pounds.
Respondents included CEOs and CFOs (57%) and COOs, CMOs, and CROs (43%). Participants were evenly distributed across the three industries and three company revenue categories.
This marks the fifth consecutive year Blue Ridge Partners has conducted its executive pricing survey.
About Blue Ridge Partners
Blue Ridge Partners is a global management consulting firm exclusively focused on accelerating profitable revenue growth. The firm has worked with more than 1,300 companies worldwide on commercial model transitions, strategic pricing engagements, and due diligence assignments.
Blue Ridge Partners helps organizations strengthen revenue performance through pricing strategy, commercial effectiveness, and hands-on execution.
For more information, visit www.blueridgepartners.com.
Media Contact
Angela Dellheim, Blue Ridge Partners, 1 (786) 266-8485, [email protected], https://www.blueridgepartners.com/
SOURCE Blue Ridge Partners
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