It was announced yesterday by Wendy's CEO Kirk Tanner that the restaurant would invest in AI menu boards and test out Dynamic Pricing, that would adjust prices up and down based on market conditions, seasons, and supply and demand. It was taken to mean surge pricing, which means only raising prices based on supply and demand, which is commonly used with airlines, hotels, and ride shares. But, after being reported in the media there was swift backlash by consumers and competitors, with Burger King attacking Wendy's with a tweet saying they won't charge customers more and offering a whopper deal. Customers across social media were angry saying they would not take part in Wendy's price changes. Wendy's said they would not be implementing surge prices, but seemed to stop short of saying they would not implement Dynamic Pricing at some point, only saying that future changes would be 'designed to benefit customers and restaurant crew.' They did they say their new digital AI menu boards could be used to change prices during the day, focusing on the point they could offer discounts and deals during slow times of the day. Would you guys and gals pay more based on Dynamic Pricing if fast food restaurants implemented this, perhaps with the caveat there would deals at slower points of the day?
But if you read what they're saying it's still surge pricing. Increasing the price during busy hours or reducing the pricing during slow hours is the same, the price is higher when they're busy.
Only counter to that would be to publish standard pricing with a guarantee that their fluctuating pricing levels won't exceed the published standards.
Yeah, the only difference is prices will also go down during slow hours too. People aren't falling for it or accepting it. You can mess with people's airfare, hotels, and ride shares but don't fuck with their food.
People still wouldn't be thrilled with it. The only way that works is if every fast food restaurant does it at once and then there is no choice. Still, there would be backlash and money loss for the fast food restaurants.
They said it was going to be dynamic, but it wouldn't lower prices. Because they didn't want their stock price to fall. Of course, if pricing is dynamic and doesn't ever lower the price... It is surge pricing. So yeah. They announced surge pricing. Then they realized that they screwed up and cancelled it. You can probably expect it to happen in the next year or so with no announcement.
Dynamic pricing, also referred to as surge pricing, demand pricing, or time-based pricing, is a revenue management pricing strategy in which businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands.
it'll happen this summer, no doubt. And it'll go under the radar, because Americans are among the most gullible and easily duped people in the world.
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