A recent poll found that 91 per cent of Canadians support an outright ban or stricter regulation on algorithmic pricing. This new practice implements price discrimination, charging different amounts in real time based on factors such as consumer identity, time of day and browsing history. The survey was conducted by Abacus Data with 1,931 Canadians from March 4th to 11th. We were shocked to learn through these findings that there was an enormous concern that this pricing structure was unfair.
As David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, pointed out, even your average Canadian is unlikely to know what “algorithmic pricing” is. They are profoundly aware of its effects in their day-to-day experiences as shoppers.
“I would say most Canadians feel they have experienced this in some way,” Coletto stated.
Our poll shows that almost 50% of respondents feel algorithmic pricing is unfair by nature. They contend that it leads to people paying vastly different amounts for the very same item. Among these, 52 percent back an outright ban on all algorithmic pricing. At the same time, 31 percent would rather see it allowed with tougher rules.
We are working to ensure the Manitoba government does its part to protect consumers. They have prohibited retailers from using personally identifiable information to charge different prices to different shoppers. This legislative move is seen as a significant step toward addressing concerns surrounding algorithmic pricing and its potential impact on consumer rights.
“If there are already provinces putting this into legislation, it means that they are feeling the political pressure to do something,” Coletto remarked. He further elaborated on the distinction between standard pricing practices and those that exploit consumer data:
It might seem reasonable for an airline to impose a surcharge for a last-minute booking. A grocery store can’t consistently accept lower prices from some customers than others.
Algorithmic pricing is one of the most complicated subjects around. More than 1,000 different data points can affect the ticket prices that airline consumers observe. This degree of personalization introduces serious ethical concerns regarding the fairness and transparency of dynamic pricing strategies.
Vass Bednar, the managing director of the Canadian Shield Institute, underscored how important the Manitoba government’s decision is. It’s invaluable, as always, to national dialogue.
“It is helping kick-start a national conversation around something,” Bednar explained.
He noted that dynamic pricing is not a new idea. The unprecedented ability to tailor prices to individual consumers based on massive amounts of data is a new development.
“What’s newer is the ability to tailor and calibrate prices down to the individual level,” Bednar noted.
As the Canadian Research Insights Council notes, such online surveys as this one cannot be given a margin of error. This is due in part because they do not have true random sampling of the population. Based on these results, it seems Canadians are united in their dissatisfaction with algorithmic pricing and its perceived unfairness.
