Roller-coaster Affair

Dynamic pricing has gained greater importance in the era of ecommerce. Many more sectors will be adopting it in the near future.

- Dr Jyoti Kainth and Prashant Kumar Dubey

You wake up on a rainy morning in new Delhi and realise that you are pretty late for office. You suit up and grab your car keys, only to figure out that it is an odd day and your car has an even-number plate. You fire up an app to book a cab, but see 3X surge pricing. You get agitated and start tweeting, texting, and blogging about how these billion-dollar companies are trying to exploit consumers. however, it is far from the first time you have encountered ‘dynamic pricing’.

A Common Phenomenon 

Remember when people used to make sTD calls during the night, at cheaper rates, or when we get special recharge offers, internet packs, and minimum call rates during holidays and festive seasons? notice how vegetable and fruit vendors gradually decrease prices towards the end of the day? how about that smile on your face when you bought your new smartphone online for R1500 less than what your friend paid for? These are all instances of dynamic pricing.