The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has initiated an investigation into several major corporations regarding their use of customer data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence for personalized pricing strategies.
Eight companies across various sectors, including Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, Accenture, Task Software, McKinsey & Co., Revionics, Bloomreach, and Pros, have received inquiries from the FTC. The agency is seeking information about the implications of these pricing tactics on privacy, competition, and consumer rights.
These companies utilize advanced data tools, often referred to as “surveillance pricing” or “dynamic pricing,” which allow them to present different prices for the same products based on individual consumer characteristics such as location, demographics, credit history, and browsing behaviors.
Many firms under scrutiny provide transaction, sales, and pricing services to some of the largest organizations both in the U.S. and internationally. Task Software is known for handling transaction management for major hospitality brands, including McDonald’s and Starbucks, while Revionics specializes in retail price optimization and serves businesses like Home Depot. Pros markets itself as a provider of AI-driven pricing solutions and boasts clients such as Nestlé, HP, and United Airlines, in addition to being a technology partner for Microsoft.
The FTC aims to uncover details about this “opaque market” that categorizes consumers and establishes targeted pricing models. “Companies that collect extensive personal data from Americans risk compromising privacy. They might be leveraging this wealth of information to impose higher prices,” stated FTC Chair Lina Khan. “Consumers deserve clarity on whether businesses are using comprehensive data to implement surveillance pricing, and our inquiry will illuminate this obscure pricing ecosystem.”
The Commission is specifically seeking information regarding four main aspects: the types of surveillance pricing products and services offered by each company, their data collection methods, customer and sales information, and the effects of these practices on consumer pricing.