Like so many growing companies, Westwing relies on software-as-a- service (SaaS) to power operations and help team members with essential tasks. To build strong relationships and negotiate mutually beneficial contracts with its vendor partners, Westwing sought Sastrify’s expertise in price benchmarking and other SaaS-related services.

Continue reading to learn about how Sastrify assisted Westwing with SaaS buying decisions through smart negotiation.

Knowledge is Power in SaaS Negotiations

Knowing what other companies pay for specific SaaS tools makes a huge difference. When your company enjoys access to price benchmarking for a certain SaaS tool, it can confidently negotiate and eventually agree on a price with assurance that it is getting value.

As an additional benefit, outsourcing SaaS procurement allows your team to continue work normally. Members get to fully focus on their top internal tasks while experienced negotiators take care of SaaS contracts and secure favorable terms.

Monday.com: Monitor Sudden Price Increases

The pricing discussions between Westwing and Monday.com were joined by Sastrify to support Westwing with a price cap that would extend well into the future. In fact, both parties walked away with a win-win situation. Monday.com secured an enterprise-level user on a long-term agreement by meeting Westwing’s budget, and Westwing received access to the custom workflow platform it needed.

Monday.com allows users to build custom workflows into a single and unified platform, which is exactly what Westwing had been searching for. Initially, Monday.com’s offer to Westwing was based on recently launched higher list prices.

"With the help of Sastrify’s benchmarks and knowledge of Monday.com’s pricing model, we were able to agree on a price that enabled us to implement the tool for 500-plus employees.“ (Adam Maschek, CTO)

That is when Sastrify came into the picture and pitched in better procurement. Based on an internal database of pricing benchmarks, Sastrify advised Westwing that other companies were still paying the legacy rates for Monday.com and that the cloud-based platform might be open to reconsider their offer. The knowledge that lower rates could be available gave Westwing a better chance at increasing savings.

Segment vs. mParticle: Benchmarks Help Determine the Best Option

Segment and mParticle are competing customer data infrastructure tools. Westwing invited Sastrify to join pricing discussions with both tools as the company explored each and tried to determine the best option.

With price benchmarks, Sastrify helped Westwing increase its first Segment discount. Similarly, Sastrify negotiated a higher volume of service for Westwing through mParticle at the same price originally offered.

Equally as important, Westwing’s IT team was able to fully focus on the technical side of procurement as Sastrify handled the value proposition. Both sides openly discussed competitors during the negotiations, which resulted in a mutual agreement.

Applitools: Leverage Competition to Secure Better Pricing

To further develop the implementation of AI, Westwing’s development team tried out Applitools, an automated testing platform with visual AI, for a reliable period. Sastrify was then invited to join negotiations with Applitools.

Sastrify essentially requested an estimate from Percy by Browserstack, one of Applitools’ competitors, to ensure complete transparency and diligence before making a buying recommendation. Applitools managed to underprice their offer and both parties agreed on a mutually beneficial price for a long-term partnership.

Retool: Adding Enterprise-Level Services to Lower Pricing Plans

For an internal tooling solution, Westwing zeroed in on Retool as the best option. At a lower cost, Retool provided Westwing with two plans: an enterprise-level, and a commercial-level.

While Westwing mostly needed the commercial plan, it did need one feature that only exists at the enterprise level — SSO. Since the SSO feature was available at higher service, Westwing had to reevaluate its process and engage Sastrify in assisting with negotiations.

Sastrify solicited offers from what else is out there in the market. This time, however, the startup received estimates from two alternative internal tooling providers. It turned out that Retool’s competitors offered SSO inside plans that were significantly less expensive. With this information, Westwing and Sastrify reached out to Retool and included SSO as part of a commercial-level plan.

"Sastrify helped us structure the negotiation by collecting quotes from alternative providers which offered their services at a much lower entry price. Seeing these lower prices with the SSO features included was a game changer.” (Josemi Liébana, Project CTO at Westwing)

Sastrify supported Westwing in calculating the number of Retool licenses needed in the next 12 months to estimate the total volume and cost. Using this information, Sastrify led three more rounds of negotiation with Retool and reached a stronger agreement for Westwing. All decided on decreasing the total price and securing discounts on additional licenses needed to fuel future growth.

Are You Ready for Price Benchmarking?

Make sure you have the pricing knowledge needed to get the most value out of your SaaS investments. At Sastrify, we offer a price benchmarking tool that allows you to precisely know what other companies are paying for enterprise-level tools and the savings you can expect to negotiate.

Do you need the right tools to fuel your company’s growth? Contact us to get pricing benchmarks for the SaaS products your team relies on most.