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If Marburger must suddenly pay 25 euros less
| Reading time: 3 minutes
Prices on the Internet may vary from one city to the other
Source: obs
There are some myths about internet shopping. For example, consumers in residential areas pay more than elsewhere. Consumer advocates have already tested this. These are the results.
IThe shop is clear: there is a price tag on the merchandise, and this price is valid. Not so on the internet. Since there are online retailers, the badumptions do not prevent customers from being treated unequally. It is badumed that people with relatively expensive devices – recognizable by their numerical addresses – higher prices would be unattended compared to others because they would badume more purchasing power. The same thing happens to the residents of the villa neighborhoods.
The centers of consumption have studied the subject and, in time for the Christmas activities, have brought surprising results. Indications of price differentiation by terminal that they did not find. The place of residence played a role, but different from that expected. Retailers rarely use these individual characteristics, according to consumer advocates.
The finding of a lack of comparability in the network remains valid because online prices have generally fluctuated rapidly and strongly over time. The ups and downs probably contributed to the general impression that different devices would display different prices. "If prices change almost every minute, it is difficult to distinguish between very dynamic or individual price differentiation," say the experts.
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The testers found different prices over a period of 20 minutes for a significant proportion of the products tested. Leaders were toys, where the gap between the highest and lowest prices during this short period rose to 61%.
The survey was led by the "Market Watcher Digital World", an early warning system of five German seats. The Brandenburg Consumer Center thus occupies the online business. To find out if customers are simultaneously posting different prices for identical products at the same online store, the testers looked at 1554 items at 16 online retailers, as well as Amazon and more than 2,000 retailers in the Amazon Marketplace. They used five devices in three locations. The study period was from January 31 to September 6, 2018.
Prices may vary from one place to another
The place from which customers are looking for products can play a role, depending on the results. However, only two operators have been noticed by market observers in this regard. At auto parts dealer atu.de, they found differences in eight percent of the items, which were in part extremely. Buyers in Marburg paid on June 30, according to consumer recommendations, an engine oil only 39.99 euros instead of 64.99 euros.
The obi.de hardware store often uses the instrument. More than half of the prices observed differed by location. "Here, for example, Berlin customers were able to save € 7 against Munich and the Marburgers on July 29 by buying a compressed air starter kit," the headquarters said. However, one did not find any systematic advantage or disadvantage in terms of price for a site: "Once, one has benefited the other, sometimes the other."
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In total, the results are not satisfactory according to the experts. "For consumers, there is no more reliable price," said Kirsti Dautzenberg, Head of Market Surveillance, Digital World, Brandenburg. In addition, prices changed too quickly, they could vary depending on the location, product representation was uneven and, ultimately, shipping costs were often blurred. All this creates a considerable lack of transparency. Even for the dealer, the lack of clarity in the long run can have undesirable consequences. "On the consumer side, the loss of trust and, in the worst case, the abandonment of online retailers could be the consequences," says Dautzenberg.
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