Overview
Retailers could improve consumer comfort with dynamic pricing practices by adopting and promoting a Pricing Bill of Rights that offered consumers visibility and rights around how their products are priced.
A long car ride and an passionate debate
I was crammed in a car to Tahoe last week when the conversation turned
to price optimization (clearly, it was a long ride), the technique that companies like airlines,
hotels and rental car companies use to change prices to optimize profit and
revenue. My skiing companions were both in technology: one was an outside sales exec, and the other was an senior engineer.
Consumer unrest
A few things about the conversation surprised me. First, the level of familiarity was surprising for a niche science. Everyone had a story to tell: how Dell was offering different prices to people visiting their website via different channels, how United was offering different prices for the same seats at the same time, how Amazon changed the prices according to the customer's profile. Second, while I was not surprised by the generally negative opinion about dynamic pricing, I was surprise by the length and passion of the debate. It was an emotional issue.
