Prices online change constantly, but soon even supermarket groceries could change prices in real-time:
ABC interviewed Decide about dynamic pricing, the growing trend of retailers changing their online prices constantly to have the coveted ‘lowest seller’ position. Until recently, the real-time price war had been fought mostly online with products like the iPad changing price twenty times a day on sites like Amazon.
But now retailers are trying out electronic price screens in their stores so they can use those aggressive pricing strategies in-person. This new direction could be very bad for shoppers. Imagine right before hurricane Sandy hit if every department store started changing the price of flashlights and generators in towns they hear are without power.
Before, you could count on prices being reliably consistent from day-to-day, but if these dynamic pricing screens take off, then shoppers everywhere will have to invest in real-time price prediction technology or shoppers could be at the mercy of stock market style price fluctuations.
Here’s the news story: