The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has initiated an investigation into several prominent companies regarding their use of customer data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence for personalized pricing strategies.
Eight companies from various sectors—Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, Accenture, Task Software, McKinsey & Co., Revionics, Bloomreach, and Pros—received information requests from the FTC on Tuesday. The agency is seeking insights into how these pricing practices affect consumer privacy, competition, and protection.
These companies utilize data tools to implement what is known as “surveillance pricing” or “dynamic pricing,” which enables them to present different prices for the same products to different consumers based on various factors, including location, demographics, credit history, and online shopping behavior.
Many of these firms provide transaction, sales, and pricing services to major U.S. and international corporations. Task, for instance, manages transactions for significant hospitality brands such as McDonald’s and Starbucks. Revionics offers retail pricing optimization solutions to global chains like Home Depot, while Pros specializes in AI-driven pricing solutions, serving clients such as Nestlé, HP, and United Airlines. Pros is also a partner in technology development with Microsoft.
The FTC aims to clarify the “opaque market” that categorizes consumers and sets differentiated prices for goods and services.
“Companies that gather Americans’ personal data risk jeopardizing privacy. Now, they might be using this extensive data to charge higher prices,” commented FTC Chair Lina Khan. “Americans deserve transparency regarding whether businesses are using detailed consumer information to implement surveillance pricing, and the FTC’s inquiry will illuminate this hidden pricing network.”
The FTC is seeking data in four primary areas: the types of surveillance pricing products and services offered by each company, their data collection methods, customer and sales information, and the influence of these practices on the prices consumers pay.