Equitable Dynamic Pricing

An equitable pricing framework that dynamically sets prices of products and services, based on data gathered from various inputs, such as available household income, gender, and race. It generates new forms of price segmentation aimed at engaging less affluent groups and boosting community action.

This framework harnesses information from different sources such as customer interactions, competitor pricing, or even available stock and inventory resources. This data is later cross-referenced with a set of parameters depending on the economic possibilities of an individual or a specific community, generating fair pricing to products and services. By proportionally adjusting prices to goods, a dynamic, equitable pricing framework identifies the overall wage gap among different societal groups —which is specifically the goal of EquiTable.

One way to apply this framework is through municipal pricing schemes and tariff structures that may be deployed to provide municipal services such as water supply, sanitation, electricity, transport, solid waste management (SWM) to growing urban populations. In many cases where data availability is unsatisfactory, smart metering technologies can measure real-time data of public services. Also, companies can use customer data to predict what the consumer is searching for and then provide fair deals according to their demands and needs.

Equality Means Transparency

Transparency among companies and institutions is a remaining issue that sets back the development of this framework. Market regulators must remain vigilant to ensure that customers are not exploited, and companies must find the correct balance between staying ethical and being profitable. In this sense, identifying the sources and recipients of pricing subsidies are crucial.

With the advance of smart-city programs across the world, pricing transparency and tariff simplification are expected to become more precise and accountable. Moreover, the broader application of tracking sensors and the adoption of blockchain-based solutions such as an Blockchain Asset Tracking or Smart Contracts may safeguard transparency and security in transactions. Such technologies can thus not only enable the application of the framework but also scale it up while enhancing measures in managing social, environmental, and economic externalities of lower-income households.