Sun Microsystems Inc. chairman Scott McNealy forecast that “With recent advances in wireless and information technology, even our cars could … call for bids whenever the fuel tank runs low, displaying a list of results from nearby gas stations right on the dashboard.”1
It sounds far-fetched. But dynamic pricing — where prices respond to supply and demand pressures in real time or near-real time — is making inroads in many different sectors, including apparel, automobiles, consumer electronics, personal services (such as haircuts), telecommunications and second-hand goods. The advent of the Internet led to cost transparency, decreased search costs and ease of price comparison. Some observers concluded that as a result, prices would decrease and equalize across different channels, and that fixed prices would continue to be the norm.2 However, price dispersion continues to be widespread and dynamic pricing is entering new sectors. EBay Inc. used auctions to sell more than $20 billion worth of goods in 2005. Ford Motor Co. sold more than $50 billion worth of automobiles in North America with demand-based DP in 2003, exceeding profit targets by $1 billion.
Fixed prices are, after all, a relatively recent phenomenon — a product of mass manufacturing that came about after the Industrial Revolution. Before that event, fixed prices were the exception; DP was the norm, with both buyer and seller able to benefit in many DP transactions.
However, apart from airlines and hotels, which employ DP routinely, most companies still use relatively simple strategies for determining prices: competitive pricing (pegging prices to competitors’ prices) or cost-plus pricing (calculating the cost of a good or service and adding profit). Now dynamic pricing optimization offers companies in many other sectors the alternative of raising average realized prices in the face of increased pricing pressures.
Four principal reasons are driving the increasing use of DP today:
- More companies can now access and deploy the technology for DP at affordable prices in new product and service... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.
Access to full article requires subscription or purchase. Please choose an option below.
More Info.Already registered with this site? Login below.
Subscribers not yet registered for online access, go here.
Customer access levels:
Registrants (free): The last 12 months
Subscribers: The last 3 years
Premium subscribers: Entire archive