Dyna­mic pricing, oppor­tu­nity or risk

2. October 2018

If you put 1 loaf of bread, say for 1 €, in your shop­ping basket at the super­mar­ket, you can alre­ady expe­ri­ence a surprise at the check­out: Suddenly the price has risen by 5 cents or fallen by 3 cents. The grocery store elec­tro­ni­cally displays the prices on the shelf and is ther­e­fore able to make price chan­ges at any time. At petrol stati­ons, you can observe the ups and downs of prices on a daily basis. Dyna­mic pricing is the magic word. In online trading, there is alre­ady a steady increase in rapid price changes.

Algo­rithms are in a posi­tion to esti­mate the purcha­sing power of custo­mers and even to record indi­vi­dua­li­zed prices. For solvent buyers it can become thus more expen­sive, for welfare reci­pi­ents howe­ver more favorable. The problem: market trans­pa­rency is lost, for compe­ti­tion autho­ri­ties rather a horror scena­rio. On the other hand, low-income house­holds could bene­fit from chea­per offers. It is still wort­hwhile to compare prices before purchasing.