>year is 2042 and you as a software developer have detailed info on every person alive, including:
>sex
>age
>predicted interest in your software
>discretionary income
>so on
You'd be able to offer totally personalized prices, so what's the formula you'd use for maximizing sales?
Obviously cost of platform I'm using to make a sale is fixed per sale. Let's say $0.1. This is the absolutely lowest price I can sell at. I guess an example would be an ex. IT guy, now beggar barely surviving with great interest in my software.
Generally, personalized price would be
>fixed cost+(10% of discretionary income*interest in my software)
why would I care about your income? price is a price. $60 is $60.
capturing consumer surplus. companies set a price that will lead to the greatest profit from the number of units that will be sold. but there are people who would be willing to pay a higher price, that if they set as the original price would lead to a lower sales volume. this would be about capturing all of the consumer surplus so that people who would be willing to pay 100 would be made to pay that much and there would no longer be a market price shared by everyone
So, having this total knowledge of potential buyers, is unwillingness to offer personalized pricing irrational?
What you're talking about is perfect price discrimination. Considering your OP image, it's quite ironic. Have you considered the fallout of someone in 2042 having access to similar software and finding out that your firm charged them 250% more than Joe off the block?
What's the fallout of Spotify/Netflix/Valve charging 200% of Russian, Argentinian, Chinese prices to US/EU/AU? I don't see it. Where is it?
Ideally you'd want to at least slightly differentiate your product and use third-degree price discrimination.
As for the pricing strategy itself I guess if you have access to all that date you could employ a bunch of analytical techniques that allow you effectively price-match. Think airline pricing on steroids and fully customised around the individual consumer.
Since we're on Jow Forums I'll suggest something 'out of the box': for foreign buyers, attach a risk premium on 'volatile' currency, then, instead of converting it to your domestic currency straight away, bank it and convert it at a better exchange rate for higher profits.
That is indeed a valid point, however I doubt such blatant and unjust price discrimination will continue for much longer.
Consider that globalisation is bringing the world to unity, that technology is increasing the rate and ease of communication, and that only recently we have introduced 'online' currencies (e.g. crypto-currencies) that, while not quite viable right now, will almost definitely see adoption in the future in one way or another. If something like comparethemarket exists for everything and is denoted in one common currency then price discrimination is OVER. I believe it will in the coming years, certainly before 2042.
Putting aside the 'unjust' thing (in short it's not), the end of regionalised/personalized pricing is a bold claim. Are you suggesting that all these large de facto monopolies will willingly to lose on low-income sales? Or you think US/EU/AU prices will drop by more than 50%?
I don't see either of those happening.
The end of regionalised pricing for digital goods? Most definitely
The end of personalised pricing for homogenous digital goods? Perhaps
I am in no way suggesting that firms will willingly lower their prices. What I am suggesting is that coming developments will create a gap for price comparison websites that will quickly be filled. Unless firms ramp up product differentiation they will perish to the forces of creative destruction.
Consider that the marginal cost for digital goods is effectively 0. Firms will still profit even if prices drop by "more than 50%"
class Person():
'average faggot who pays for software'
def __init__(self,sex,income,age,provider=None):
self.sex = sex
self.income = income
self.age = age
self.setProvider(self,provider)
self.price_multiplier = None
def setProvider(self,other):
if self.sex == "male":
pass
else:
if provider == None:
print("That's impossible")
else:
if type(provider) == list:
from numpy import mean
self.provider = [person for person in provider if person.income > mean([person.income for person in provider list]) and person.sex == "male"]
elif provider.sex == "male":
self.provider = provider
else:
quit()
def setMultiplier(self):
if self.sex == "male":
return self.income / 20 + self.age
else:
return other.income /10 + self.age +[spoiler][/spoiler] self.provider.age
the absolute autism on this website is maddening
* basic price for virgins (discounted if they're over 30)
* price higher for people who masturbated at least once in the last six months
* price way higher for people who had sex at least once in their life
* price doubles if sex with different partners
* supplementary doubling for people who were born as females
* another price doubling for people who had non-straight sex at least once in their life
* yet another price doubling for people claiming to not to be "cis straight"
Damn. Just imagine.
prices are already demand driven, as demand goes up discounts disappear as if by magic and the less interested people wait till they reappear. Look at the difference in the normal price and lowest recorded price in your pic.
go study economics retard.
>I identify as a python 3.7 interpreter
gas yourself you fucking autist
Sure, but you're dealing with something like 500 million potential customers each with different willingness to pay x amount. In order to *maximise* profit, you'd have to have personalized prices.
Aren't various mobile games/apps already doing something similar with their microtransactions?
They'll take data they've recorded on your interactions with the game + whatever other data they have and adjust the prices of microtransactions, the cooldown/wait on game mechanics, the outcome of "random" rolls etc according to what the algos and behavioral scientists have calculated gives maximum profits.
When you leave the house in 2042 there won't be price tags, instead the mandatory brain implant will display your personalized price carefully calculated by algos that have been fed every minor detail about you.
Do you have any source for personalized and not just random pricing for microtransactions?
(2/2)
Zynga had to backpedal because of community rage for *random* pricing, yet rarely anyone rages over regionalised pricing. That's so weird.
>We apologise for any frustration this test may have caused and want to assure you it was done at random and not based on player history. Testing features is an important part of game development but we're sorry this test missed the mark and disrupted your game experience."
>Zynga said those who purchased the car at the maximum price will be receiving an in-game compensation package within the next day. It's unclear how many price points the car was offered at, though Zynga appears to have settled on a $15 price point now that the test is over with.
Some talk I saw on youtube, not sure if I can find it again.
But activision did patent a thing for matchmaking in online games which is kind of similar.
Examples of how they manipulate your entire experience with the game based on data gathered on you to increase spending.
>“For example, microtransaction engine 128 may identify a junior player to match with a marquee player based on a player profile of the junior player. In a particular example, the junior player may wish to become an expert sniper in a game...Microtransaction engine 128 may match the junior player with a player that is a highly skilled sniper in the game. In this manner, the junior player may be encouraged to make game-related purchases such as a rifle or other item used by the highly skilled sniper.”
>“For example, if the player purchased a particular weapon, the microtransaction engine may match the player in a gameplay session in which the particular weapon is highly effective,”
It's probably intended for COD but you could do it an any online game where you control who players are matched with/against.
What kind of fucked up world do you think people live in? This is unethical as fuck and people would more than likely blacklist your company.
Providing discounts to those priced out of market is unethical? What kind of fucked up world do you live in? Is it unethical for someone at Farmer's market to give a poor old lady a significant discount on beans or tomatoes? No? So why is software any different?
Wow, it is really the tragedy of creative people to have 0 understanding of economics. Good luck with your life.
Explain, how is discounting to those priced out of a market unethical? There's no single argument that would prove it unethical. In fact, it's a win-win situation.
You don't have to worry about this if you have xmr.
Doesn't matter because the EULA prevents anyone sharing their license / software and you have a monopoly on sales.
I never said it was unethical. Your whole post is about using exogenous data to price software instead of sales. Then you admit that it's some social cause for you.
Economists can already tell you that this won't work. Sales should already contain all necessary information for pricing. Variable pricing is for cash flow purposes not capturing a latent part of the market. Using exogenous data to make a Frankenstein market is a good way to provide an incentive for your customers to hide their information and depersonalize their accounts. Most of the data your talking about is from advertising networks and they already are required to allow customers to do that.
>Variable pricing is not for capturing a latent part of the market.
I find this very hard to believe. In fact, I've searched for info on mobile games and it seems almost all of the top sellers will give you some discount if they sense that you're spending less time playing their game. Not to mention that generic "store brands", that are often made at the same factory lines as popular products, are meant to do exactly that - to capture a "latent part of the market".
Farmer's markets all across the world also offer discounts if they sense they're dealing with a particularly frugal customer.
What the fuck is this thread
a stalinist and maybe perhaps also an app developer that wants to make money