Geography 3422A/B Study Guide - Orbitz, Price Discrimination, Cheaptickets
11 Mar 2013
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Websites vary prices, deals based on users information. A wall street journal investigation found that the staples inc. website displays different prices to people after estimating their locations: staples appeared to consider the person"s distance from a rival brick-and-mortar store, either officemax inc. or office. That single factor appeared to explain upward of 90% of the pricing pattern. Testing suggested that staples tries to deduce people"s. Zip codes by looking at their computer"s ip address. Companies such as staples, discover financial services, rosetta. Regular shops routinely adjust their prices to account for local demand, competition, store location, etc. What economists call price discrimination, when companies offer different prices to different people based on their perceived willingness to pay, is commonplace and can be beneficial. Prices that are higher in areas with less competition, including rural or poor areas. It diminishes the internet"s role as an equalizer. In 2000, amazon. com infuriated many customers when it sold.
