Target, Wal-Mart and Safeway all paid DemandTec to help decide what to charge. The San Carlos company sold software that studied how shoppers responded to prices and promotions, then recommended what retailers should do next. Best Buy and Office Depot rounded out its biggest U.S. accounts. When it went public in August 2007, customers used the software as a service over the internet.

Modeling the Shopper

DemandTec was incorporated in Delaware in November 1999. Its software modeled shopper demand to guide four decisions: regular prices, promotions, markdowns, and trade deals with brands. Retailers paid a subscription, and so did consumer products companies such as Kraft, Nestlé USA and Procter & Gamble. By 2007, 35 retailers and more than 100 brands used it. Retailers brought in 94 percent of its revenue.

Into IBM's Smarter Commerce

DemandTec priced 6 million shares at $11 in August 2007 and listed on Nasdaq as DMAN. It had posted a small net loss of $1.5 million in its latest fiscal year. In December 2011 IBM agreed to buy DemandTec for $13.20 a share in cash. The deal closed in February 2012, and the stock left Nasdaq. IBM folded DemandTec into its Smarter Commerce software for retailers and brands.

Cover: Market Women, Henri-Gabriel Ibels. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for market women at their stalls (retail pricing).