Mahargdom

Companies can personalize your emails with your name, what you’ve purchased, what settings you like and what your demographic data is. They can personalize the ads you see based on your preferences, your purchase history, your age and your gender. At BuildASign.com we can even personalize a web page with sign templates that contain your name, phone number and a photograph of you. I get phone calls and links to pages pre-populated with my name and information constantly; prices are customized to fit my buying patterns. Where does the line get drawn?

We are still in an era where people expect companies to mind their own business (or at least pretend to) with certain information. Maybe visiting a website with your own picture on it is too personal? Maybe getting a higher set of prices based on your willingness to spend more is unfair? Is getting an advertisement that shows you products only you could need too invasive?

I think the answer is Maybe, but only for today. The next generations will become more accustomed to privacy release — they will be comfortable giving out their purchasing patterns, bank balances, credit information, age, sex, ethnicity, resident information and more in exchange for cheaper and more directed products and more customized pricing.

Custom pricing will be one of the last personlized criteria to change, but static pricing will be a thing of the past. E-Commerce companies like Amazon are already moving pricing around on a per visit basis, Ebay and Craig’s List are making internet users accustomed to paying varying amounts for the same products, and why not? Allowing businesses to maximize their profits in the face of fierce competition is the very essence of capitalism. Allowing consumers to place a monopoly on pricing doesn’t make sense in a global economy.

Think about it. It seems perfectly reasonable that an orange in Maine may cost X in a grocery store while an Orange in Denver may cost Y. Why then is it so offensive that an online web site selling to both Maine and Denver charge two separate costs? We are conditioned to think that pricing in a single physical location should remain constant across all purchasers — but that doesn’t reflect the reality of regional markets, logistic differences and other factors.

Static Pricing is about to change.