As the Spring Festival travel peak approaches, consumers frequently buy New Year's goods, book air tickets and hotels, and topics related to big data "killing ripeness" have appeared on the hot search again. Recently, it was reported that on the same platform, at the same time, and booking the same flight, the difference between the three mobile phone tickets was as high as 930 yuan. There are also consumers who find that their accounts with higher levels are more expensive when ordering food, and those with lower levels have discounts.
As in the past, various platforms still interpret the price difference as the superposition of activities, especially the new customer discount. Suffering from the natural asymmetry of information and technology, consumers have always wondered whether this is big data "killing" or differentiated marketing? What should I do if I encounter this situation during the Spring Festival?
From an economic point of view, big data "killing" and differentiated marketing are essentially the same thing. Both of them belong to ** discrimination, which is that merchants collect and analyze a large number of user data to understand the user's personal hobbies, economic strength, consumption habits and other information, and formulate different pricing strategies to maximize profits.
Vegetable market vendors have always been good at implementing differentiated pricing through observation and observation, which is equivalent to the "human brain version" of differentiated marketing, but the aunts who come often and can bargain get more discounts, and the new faces who come occasionally get fewer discounts. With the help of big data and Internet technology, differentiated marketing of platform enterprises is more common and accurate than that of small traders. The Beijing Consumers Association commissioned the Beijing Sunshine Consumer Big Data Research Institute to conduct a survey of more than 4,000 respondents and found that 8691% of the respondents believe that they have been "killed" by big data, and the problems are mainly focused on online shopping, ** travel, food delivery and online car-hailing.
The survey summarizes that the "ripeness" of big data is mainly reflected in 6 situations, including the difference between different users purchasing the same goods or services at the same time; **Automatically** after multiple browsings; Different users enjoy different forms of discounts; Hide or don't send coupons to old users; Provide specific goods or services based on user characteristics; There are also some respondents who believe that it is reflected in the form of "different mobile phone configurations". However, in these strategies, online platforms often give more discounts to new customers and less discounts to old customers, which is more likely to be noticed and disgusted by consumers, and big data "killing" has become synonymous with online differentiated marketing.
Although the "ripeness" of big data has been questioned for a long time, and the regulation of big data "killing" has been written into the first document, platform companies have never admitted the existence of similar behaviors. Due to the immediacy, concealment, ambiguity and complexity of the relevant behaviors, not only consumers are naturally at a disadvantage, but they are also faced with difficulties such as difficulty in identifying, adducing evidence, and protecting rights, and even the regulatory authorities are difficult to grasp the current situation.
In fact, the differential pricing that makes users feel unpleasant is the "ripeness" of big data. Consumers are questioning whether the platform's differentiated pricing is fair and reasonable, and they are also worried about whether private information is being misused. Each hot search highlights the sensitivity of personal information protection, and also reminds consumers of the importance of protecting their right to know and the right to fair trade. In this regard, the regulatory and legal details need to be filled in as soon as possible, and the platform should also show the details of the discount more clearly, so that consumers can see it at a glance.
With the number of Internet users in the country exceeding 1 billion, today's platform companies are eager to hold the "repurchase" and "retention" consumers in the palm of their hands as treasures, and it is not wise to "kill" at this time. Even if the newcomer discount can bring in a little increment, it will make hundreds of millions of old fans unhappy that they are "killed", and this account is not cost-effective. In addition to new customer discounts, the platform should also let big data play the role of "familiarity", serve existing customers well, and design other benefits, such as free room upgrades, early check-in, points exchange, high-level user exclusive activities, etc., so that old customers can get a higher comprehensive cost performance. As long as there are enough companies in the market, consumers feel that they are "killed" or inappropriate by this platform, and they can immediately change to another one. From this point of view, curbing the "ripeness" of big data ultimately depends on fair and orderly full competition. The Spring Festival market, with strong consumption, is a good time to test the strength and sincerity of the platform. (This article**: Economy** Author: She Ying).
*:Economy**.