Dynamic pricing is defined by Nikki Baird (2017) as the strategy of changing a price multiple times throughout the day or week. The most famous example of an industry which applies a dynamic pricing model is the airline industry. Technology allows airlines to develop the best way of optimizing fairs in real-time based on Expected Marginal Seat Revenue (EMSR) (Morris, 2016). Thus, although dynamic pricing was first defined by John Wanamaker already in 1861 (Deloitte Nederland, 2016), the advances of the Internet allowed dynamic pricing strategies to evolve the way they are now, and will be like in the future.
The evolution of dynamic pricing has been divided in 5 waves by Accenture (2016):
Wave 1 is described as the period before 1990 when prices were static and remained unchanged. Wave 2 started when the World Wide Web was launched in 1990, which has introduced the concept of dynamic pricing as a way of managing supply and demand. The launch of Amazon and E-bay in respectively 1994 and 1995 have changed the dynamics of competition, prices became more transparent leading to companies adapting their prices according to competitor’s price levels. The inception of mobile shopping applications have driven the pricing dynamics towards wave 4 from 2010, called “Omni-channel experiences”. This wave represents the advancements in digital and mobile technology, allowing for price-matching to become the new normal. The last wave that Accenture (2016) identifies, which starts in 2016, is the “advent of contextual pricing” in which they predict that an individual’s characteristics will determine the price one pays for a product or service.
Pricing policies based on analysis of individual’s personal characteristics could lead to charging customers based on their spending behavior. Data analysis might for example find that somebody who is likely to spend a large amount of euros on clothing, is also more likely to pay more for a hotel booking. Eventually, this policy will lead to an economy where the larger spenders pay more for the same products and services.
The question we need to ask ourselves now, is if pricing based on these kinds of individual characteristics is a desirable development in our society. Is pricing based on personal characteristics similar to pricing based on external factors such as weather conditions? Both influence the demand for a certain product or service, but is it ethical to disadvantage people based on their personality, or is this going towards discrimination?
References
Accenture. (2016). Build dynamic pricing into your customer experience. [online] Available at: https://www.accenture.com/t20161216T025827Z__w__/sg-en/_acnmedia/PDF-36/Accenture-Strategy-Dont-Set-It-Forget-It.pdf#zoom=50 [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017].
Baird, N. (2017). Forbes. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nikkibaird/2017/04/18/dynamic-pricing-when-should-retailers-bother/#3abfe8b621be [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017].
Deloitte Nederland. (2016). Dynamic pricing in retail | Deloitte. [online] Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/nl/nl/pages/data-analytics/articles/dynamic-pricing-in-retail.html [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017].
Morris, H. (2016). How airlines set the price of their tickets – and what you can do to beat them. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/how-airlines-set-the-price-of-flight-tickets-and-how-to-beat-them/ [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017].
I definitely think this is an interesting topic as well. I personally think personalized pricing can be unethical. For example, your article made me think of when Delta Airlines recently hiked up prices by 600% for people who were trying to leave their state Florida because a hurricane was about to hit the state (Mindock and Calder, 2017). This happened because they have an automated system which decides different prices for each customer based on different factors. After the company received some backlash the airline changed the prices back to their normal rate.
Obviously, people trying to leave their state because of a hurricane are willing to pay more for their flight tickets, but I think this is a clear example of personalized pricing being unethical. Therefore I think that in some cases personalized pricing can be unethical.
Mindock, C. and Calder, S. (2017). Irma: Airline ticket prices surge up to 600% as incoming hurricane sparks mass evacuations. Retrieved 17 October 2017 from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/irma-hurricane-flights-florida-tickets-prices-costs-hiked-gouging-delta-united-airlines-a7933471.html