Need

YPF, the Seeker for this Innocentive Challenge, is seeking experts, consultancies, technology providers, and organizations with demonstrable experience in pricing strategy, revenue management, pricing analytics, artificial intelligence applied to pricing, and commercial optimization for complex product portfolios.

The challenge is focused on identifying experts with a strong track record in proven methodologies, best practices, analytical models, information sources, and tools around managing pricing decisions across complex portfolios, multiple sales channels, and highly dynamic economic environments.

Participation is limited to experts, consulting firms, technology providers, or organizations with demonstrable and direct experience in pricing strategy and optimization for complex product portfolios.

Applications should include relevant real-world experience, case studies, references, proposed collaboration approach, and supporting materials.

Collaboration Opportunity

This is a Marketplace Expertise Challenge seeking a partner with the expertise to provide knowledge share, and later practical systems and expertise work to solve YPF’s business challenge; the Solver is invited to submit a written proposal to be evaluated by YPF with the goal of establishing a collaborative partnership.

Stage 1 - Interviews: Up to three Solvers will be selected for interviews and exchange sessions with YPF. Each selected Solver will receive $2,000 USD as compensation for their preparation, participation, and expertise shared during the engagement. Payment is contingent upon YPF's satisfactory assessment of the value provided and the relevance of the Solver's experience to the challenge objectives.

Stage 2 - Shortlist and conceptual pricing model: One selected Solver may be invited to develop a fully defined conceptual and methodological pricing model. This second stage will be awarded up to $10,000 USD.

The second-stage deliverable is not software development, but a complete definition of the conceptual pricing model: its operating rules, decision logic, KPIs, information requirements, governance approach, etc. that are detailed enough for later implementation by YPF’s internal team or a specialized technology provider.

Applications should be non-confidential, and should be focused on the personal and organizational expertise of the Solver, with relevant case studies and references included. By submitting, participants grant YPF the right to review and evaluate their submission for the purposes of this Challenge.

Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on October 26th, 2026.

Please review the later Participation Guidance section before submitting a proposal.

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Seeker & Eligibility

YPF is a leading energy company in Argentina, with a lubricants business that serves multiple customer segments and sales channels.

Participation is limited to experts, consulting firms, technology providers, or organizations with demonstrable experience in pricing strategy and optimization for complex product portfolios.

Proposals must be supported by relevant real-world case studies, references, proven methodologies, or evidence of successful implementation in comparable industries. Applications based solely on theoretical concepts, AI-generated ideas without practical validation, or without demonstrated expertise in the subject matter will not be considered.

Preference will be given to applications supported by organizations.

Challenge

Background

YPF Lubricants manages a broad and complex portfolio across multiple customer segments, including automotive, agriculture, oil & gas, mining, transportation, and others. The business operates with around 300 formulations and more than 550 SKUs, through multiple commercial channels and customer types. Pricing decisions are further complicated by regional competitive differences, customer-specific commercial conditions, macroeconomic volatility, and the need to maintain consistency across channels.

The business currently operates through three main channels:

• Service Stations: focused on end consumers, including product sales on-site and lubricants sold through boxes and related services
• Distributors: with their own commercial policies, regional competitive dynamics, and reach into multiple industrial segments such as agriculture, transport, lubricentros, and public organizations
• Direct Customers: including mining, transport, oil & gas, agriculture, and other industrial segments.

Pricing decisions in one channel can directly affect the others. YPF therefore needs to preserve price coherence and competitiveness across channels. The company currently cascades pricing from the retail price at Service Stations to the rest of the channels, taking into account value chains, markups, and channel balance. It also monitors benchmark products in Service Stations and Distributor channels to understand competitive positioning. Incentive schemes for Service Stations and Distributors are linked to list price positioning, while direct customer pricing is based on target margins by segment or subsegment.

Challenge

YPF is seeking to understand how other organizations manage pricing decisions in environments with hundreds of stock-keeping units (SKUs), multiple price lists, regional differences, multiple sales channels, commercial restrictions between channels, highly competitive markets, and inflationary conditions.

The intended outcome is to identify proven approaches for:

• Obtaining market information
• Incorporating competitor prices
• Handling incomplete information
• Building price recommendation models
• Separating B2B and B2C models
• Building customer-type-based models independent of the consumption channel.

The Challenge is not seeking the development of a pricing algorithm, software solution, or analytical tool. The objective is to identify experts capable of defining the conceptual pricing model, business rules, decision logic, KPIs, information requirements, governance approaches, and methodological frameworks that could then subsequently be partnered with to work on and implement the project with YPF, or by a specialized technology provider.

Solution Requirements

Must-haves

Proposals must be supported by relevant real-world case studies, references, proven methodologies, or evidence of successful implementation in comparable industries.

Preference will be given to applications supported by organizations.

Solutions must address the full scope of the problem, including:

• Large product portfolios
• Multiple sales channels
• Regional competitive differences
• Customer-specific commercial conditions
• Macroeconomic influence
• Price consistency across channels
• Relevant real-world experience

Out of Scope / Things to Avoid

Applications based solely on theoretical concepts, AI-generated ideas without practical validation, or without demonstrated expertise in the subject matter will not be considered.

Software development, full-scale implementation services, data acquisition, and system integration activities are out of scope, unless they are directly required to demonstrate or support the proposed pricing approach.

Your Submission

Please login and register your interest, to complete the submission form and add attachments. Submissions can be written in English or Spanish, but must include:

1. Participation type – you will first be asked to inform us how you are participating in this challenge, as a Solver (Individual) or Solver (Organization).
2. Personal details, including: Full name; Email address; Company, organization, or institution; Country of permanent residence.
3. Relevant experience of the individual(s) who would take part in the engagement, particularly regarding their abilities in strategic pricing, revenue management, pricing analytics, market intelligence, artificial intelligence applied to pricing, or related disciplines.
4. Similar cases worked on, including scope, complexity, and results.
5. Industries and markets in which you have developed your experience.
6. Tools, technologies, methodologies, or approaches used.
7. Experience managing complex portfolios, multiple commercial channels, and highly volatile economic environments.
8. How you would approach YPF’s problem.
9. Relevant variables for pricing in complex, multi-channel portfolios.
10. Recommended internal and external information sources.
11. Integration of pricing variables.
12. Methodologies, analytical models, or approaches used to support pricing decisions.
13. Tools or technologies considered appropriate for this type of problem.
14. Examples of best practices implemented in similar organizations.
15. Availability and interest in collaborating with YPF in future work.
16. Supplementary attachments: CV or professional résumé (mandatory); Corporate presentation, if applicable; Success cases or relevant references; Optional technical articles, publications, or related studies.

Participation Guidance

1. Submission Close Date: Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on October 26th, 2026.
2. Late submissions: Late submissions will not be considered.
3. Multiple submissions, One Maximum: In case of multiple submissions by the same Solver, only one submission – the final one submitted – will be considered. Any other submissions will be deleted prior to evaluation.
4. Submission form and attachments: Your submission will be evaluated by the evaluation team first reviewing the information and content you have submitted at the submission form, with attachments used as additional context to your form submission. Submissions relying solely on attachments will receive less attention from the evaluation team.
5. Evaluation notification steps: After the Challenge submission close date, YPF will review and select the winning solutions according to the timeline in the Challenge header. Everyone who submits a proposal will be notified about the status of their applications.
6. Use of AI: Please note that any submissions produced solely with generative AI are not of interest.
7. Learn more: Find out more about participation in Innocentive Challenges.