One-to-One Pricing Using RFID Tags

Again, hat tip to Chris Forsman, Sales Consultant with Accounting Micro Systems, who referred me to a company that "are installing RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) tags on shelves in supermarkets and are able to control/change pricing of product at will through an access point connected to a central computer. If it is warm and soft drinks are moving fast at $3.00/six pack, they can at a click of a mouse, change the price to $4.00/six pack."This is an excellent example of how pricing strategies are always innovated by sellers, not buyers, as I've discussed before. The use of RFID tags in this manner is reminiscent of when Coca-Cola put thermometers in its outdoor vending machines that raised the price of a drink as it got hotter.They retreated from that strategy when there was a public backlash. It would have been far better for them to lower the price when it got colder, as that's perceived as being more fair, much like a high-end resort discounting its room rates from a premium "rack-rate" rather than raising room rates during "on-seasons."The use of RFID tags for pricing is in its infancy, but I assure you that professional pricers will be innovating strategies in order to price discriminate, segment customers, and charge different prices to different customers based on ability and willingness to pay—in other words, based on value.The company Chris referred to is Altierre in Silicon Valley.