The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has initiated an investigation into several prominent companies regarding their practices related to the use of customer data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence to customize pricing strategies.
Eight companies across various sectors—Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, Accenture, Task Software, McKinsey & Co., Revionics, Bloomreach, and Pros—have received inquiries from the regulatory agency. The FTC is seeking to understand how these pricing strategies affect privacy, competition, and consumer protection.
These companies employ tactics known as “surveillance pricing” or “dynamic pricing,” which involve presenting different prices to consumers for identical products based on individual characteristics or behaviors, including factors like location, demographics, credit history, and shopping habits.
Many of the firms under scrutiny offer transaction, sales, and pricing services to major corporations both in the U.S. and internationally. For instance, Task Software manages transactions for notable hospitality brands such as McDonald’s and Starbucks. Revionics specializes in retail price optimization and analytics for large chains like Home Depot. Meanwhile, Pros provides AI-driven solutions for pricing, serving clients such as Nestlé, HP, and United Airlines, and partners with Microsoft in technology development.
The FTC aims to investigate the unclear market that categorizes consumers and adjusts prices accordingly.
“Firms that collect personal data from Americans can jeopardize their privacy. Now, these firms may be exploiting extensive personal data to set higher prices,” stated FTC Chair Lina Khan. “Americans have the right to know if businesses are utilizing detailed consumer data for surveillance pricing, and this inquiry will clarify the obscure market of pricing intermediaries.”
The FTC has outlined four primary areas of focus for its investigation: the types of surveillance pricing products and services offered by each company, their data collection methods, relevant customer and sales information, and the impact these practices have on the prices consumers ultimately pay.