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Dynamic Pricing

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Submitted By deeprules
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SUMMER 2007

V O L . 4 8 N O. 4

SMR254

Arvind Sahay

How to Reap Higher Profits With Dynamic Pricing

Please note that gray areas reflect artwork that has been intentionally removed. The substantive content of the This document article appears as originally published.is authorized for use only by Neelu Bhullar at MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE until REPRINT July 2013. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860.

NUMBER 48415

pricing

How to Reap Higher Profits With



DynamicPricing

un 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

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