Predictable Dynamic Pricing - Boon or Scourge? -
unclechuck - 06-27-2019
Topic du jour for football ticket prices:
https://gostanford.com/news/2019/6/17/football-predictable-dynamic-pricing.aspx
Will the creeping calculus of "market price" be migrating to your favorite restaurant, bar, coffee shop, fitness facility, grocery store, auto repair shop, etc?
Will this be Rap or Disco?
RE: Predictable Dynamic Pricing - Boon or Scourge? -
Phogge - 06-27-2019
“...if tickets remain.” LMAO.
RE: Predictable Dynamic Pricing - Boon or Scourge? -
BostonCard - 06-27-2019
(06-27-2019, 08:18 AM)unclechuck Wrote: Topic du jour for football ticket prices:
https://gostanford.com/news/2019/6/17/football-predictable-dynamic-pricing.aspx
Will the creeping calculus of "market price" be migrating to your favorite restaurant, bar, coffee shop, fitness facility, grocery store, auto repair shop, etc?
Will this be Rap or Disco?
The big difference is that for sporting events, there is a fixed supply (of seats), the marginal cost for each ticket sold is negligible, and the value of the product becomes zero shortly after the event starts. For most of the other things you mention, supply can be expanded, marginal costs can be higher compared to fixed costs, and the value of the product is not time limited. There might be a few exceptions (a fancy prix fix restaurant with a 6 month waiting list might work dynamic pricing into the mix), but I don't see how a fitness facility would do so.
BC
RE: Predictable Dynamic Pricing - Boon or Scourge? -
Snorlax94 - 06-29-2019
I have no problems with dynamic pricing.
It’s already quite widespread — at some bakeries, pastries are half off the final hour before closing. The price of many concerts and shows are discounted (or, made available to more discounters like groupon), as the date approaches. The tradeoff being, the selection grows worse each day.
I think it all makes sense. I do think they underestimate the Notre Dame game — i really think they could be a contender this year, and the Thanksgiving game could be a play-in game for them. And i think they overestimate the Northwestern game — based on recent years, I think they should just make the first game the bargain game of the year and offer a $20 kickoff special.
But as for the dynamic pricing, it makes sense to me. I appreciate the transparency.
RE: Predictable Dynamic Pricing - Boon or Scourge? -
CardinalSagehen - 06-30-2019
(06-29-2019, 10:11 PM)Snorlax94 Wrote: And i think they overestimate the Northwestern game — based on recent years, I think they should just make the first game the bargain game of the year and offer a $20 kickoff special.
I agree that Stanford demand for the opener will continue to be soft, and the stadium won’t be close to full, especially with school out of session.
But based on my small sample size of a couple Bay Area Northwestern alum friends, this is going to be brobdingnagian for them. All of their buddies are descending on Palo Alto from near and far for this one.
Northwestern Fan is *energized* after the Wildcats’ improbable run to the Big Ten title game. This destination is a little more interesting than their usual force-feeding of Lincoln, Bloomington, Champaign and other Big Ten Podunk towns.
It’s still a small school, like Stanford, so their fully energized base won’t make much of a dent. But they will be highly enthusiastic on a per capita basis, which is one of the many reasons I’m looking forward to this one.
RE: Predictable Dynamic Pricing - Boon or Scourge? -
qwerty49 - 06-30-2019
Since I live in SoCal now, the ND game on Thanksgiving weekend never works for me. Fortunately, there are always a couple of Domers on StubHub willing to finance my season ticket package.
RE: Predictable Dynamic Pricing - Boon or Scourge? -
unclechuck - 06-30-2019
(06-27-2019, 04:56 PM)BostonCard Wrote: (06-27-2019, 08:18 AM)unclechuck Wrote: Topic du jour for football ticket prices:
https://gostanford.com/news/2019/6/17/football-predictable-dynamic-pricing.aspx
Will the creeping calculus of "market price" be migrating to your favorite restaurant, bar, coffee shop, fitness facility, grocery store, auto repair shop, etc?
Will this be Rap or Disco?
The big difference is that for sporting events, there is a fixed supply (of seats), the marginal cost for each ticket sold is negligible, and the value of the product becomes zero shortly after the event starts. For most of the other things you mention, supply can be expanded, marginal costs can be higher compared to fixed costs, and the value of the product is not time limited. There might be a few exceptions (a fancy prix fix restaurant with a 6 month waiting list might work dynamic pricing into the mix), but I don't see how a fitness facility would do so.
BC
(06-29-2019, 10:11 PM)Snorlax94 Wrote: I have no problems with dynamic pricing.
It’s already quite widespread — at some bakeries, pastries are half off the final hour before closing. The price of many concerts and shows are discounted (or, made available to more discounters like groupon), as the date approaches. The tradeoff being, the selection grows worse each day.
But as for the dynamic pricing, it makes sense to me. I appreciate the transparency.
BC - the several items I mention do share in common a time sensitivity and an inability to add supply (scale up/down) efficiently without taking on substantial fixed costs. For gyms, bars, restaurants there are prime times (before & after work; lunchtime) where there are space/equipment/staff limitations - treadmills & pool lanes; seating and food-drink for bars & restaurants; staff & stocked, fresh supplies for groceries etc. The difference seems to be in cycle times that are daily rather than weekly, monthly or yearly for sports events, concerts etc.
The football tickets in question are not wholly dynamic as they are fixed at predetermined values for specific intervals. One could foresee a more dynamic process similar to what Snorlax94 offers in his concerts example, or more specifically, what happens with the scalpers outside the stadium on game day when the delta dollars per unit time before kickoff can swing wildly.
Personally, I'm not as sanguine as Snorlax94 about the prospect of waving my phone/watch/chip implant over a reader before getting in a pool, or buying a watch party beer at a sports bar, but with adequate methods of knowing the cost in advance, it could work out OK.