price tags at brick-and-mortar retailers are still fairly rare today, this is “essentially where the retail industry is going.” Soon, electronic tags at walk-in stores will allow prices to change not only day to day, but hour to hour — much as they now do online. And they may charge diff erent customers diff erent prices.
DATA MINING Already, many consumers
have wallets, or key chains, bulging with loyalty or discount
cards from grocery and other stores.
may be charged a higher price, those who are less affl uent will likely be charged less, Zhang says. “This means for those people who don’t have a lot of money and are price sensitive, dynamic pricing presents a tremendous opportunity for them to buy diff erent products that they normally wouldn’t buy,” he adds. The pace in which retailers and
These cards, when swiped at the checkout stand, provide businesses with a vast amount of data about a customer and their spending patterns, Zhang tells Newsmax. Some companies are considering, or may have incorporated already, embedded radio-frequency identifi cation (RFID) chips in these cards, Zhang says. So, when a customer walks in the door, scanners
DR. ZHANG
can read the chip and provide the business a wealth of information about the shopper, Zhang says. “They can easily size you up and as
you go through the aisles, may off er you diff erent deals to get you to buy their products — either charging you more or less,” Zhang says.
SOAKING THE RICH Zhang says dynamic pricing
doesn’t necessarily mean shoppers will be charged more overall. While those who can aff ord to pay more
Soon, electronic tags at walk-in stores will allow prices to change not only day to day, but hour to hour — much as they now do online.
other businesses adopt dynamic pricing will mirror how comfortable people are with the changing shopping landscape, Best says. “With companies like Groupon. com and even email marketing blasts that major retailers send out weekly, all of these things together are
educating shoppers that a retail price is really, at the end of the day, just a suggestion,” he says.
TOP 10 INTERNET RETAIL BUSINESSES IN THE U.S.
Here are the top web portals for the first quarter of 2013:
Web Rank Company Sales (in billions)
1.
Amazon.com Inc. $19.2 2. Staples Inc. 3. Dell Inc.
4. Of ice Depot Inc. 5. Apple Inc.
6. Of iceMax Inc.
$7.7 $4.8 $4.8 $3.6 $3.1
7. Sears Holding Corp. $2.7 8. CDW Corp. 9.
Newegg.com 10. Best Buy
TRICKS TO GET THE BEST DEAL A
s businesses employ increasingly sophisticated technologies to extract the most money from shoppers, Michelle Madhok says the “digitally fluent” are fighting back with shopbots (comparison price search engines) and other cost- saving measures. Madhok, an online shopping expert, says websites like Shopping. com,
PriceGrabber.com,
Shopzilla.com,
ShopStyle.com, and
Pronto.com can all be used to get fantastic bargains on just about any good or service. When you’re looking for a specific item, you can set a price alert for it on these sites. When the price drops to a threshold you determine, you get an email or text message. Even if you don’t buy the item online, you can print the price and take it to your local store as a bargaining chip. This strategy works very well on large-ticket items such as electronics and appliances.
When using a shopping site, if you live in an
af luent area, Madhok recommends entering a ZIP code from an area “where it’s cheaper to live.” This often brings a cheaper price. “I have a house out on Long Island where things are cheaper, and I put in that ZIP code,” Madhok says. Another trick is for consumers to clear their computer cookies before making
a purchase. This blocks sites from tracking your previous purchases, which may increase the price if you are a big spender.
MAY 2013 | NEWSMAX MAXLIFE 75
$2.6 $2.1
$2.0 SOURCE:
www.internetretailer.com
ZHANG/COURTESY OF Z. JOHN ZHANG / LAPTOP/GREGOR SCHUSTER/PHOTOGRAPHER’S CHOICE RF/GETTY IMAGES
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