Have you ever heard of big data killing? In fact, old users are the most valuable resources to keep. The so-called "big data killing" is defined as the behavior that Internet manufacturers use their own user data to discriminate against old users. That is to say: for the same product or service, the price that Internet manufacturers display to old users is higher than that of new users. What's going on? Let's follow sihai.com to find out. If so, wouldn't it chill consumers?
Previously, media surveys have found that similar situations exist in multiple platforms with fluctuating prices, such as air tickets, hotels, films, e-commerce, travel, etc., and are more common in online tourism platforms, while similar situations have already existed in some foreign websites.
Recently, some netizens found that the quotation of taxi software for two mobile phones is different for the same distance:
Is this true? As a result, many people have embarked on the path of verification:
Have you ever encountered any of these situations?
Situation 1: the price of old users is higher than that of new users?
According to reports, some netizens said they experienced being "killed" on a film ticket booking platform.
She said that using the newly registered Xiaobai account, ordinary member account and high-level member account to buy the same movie at the same time, the cheapest is Xiaobai account, followed by ordinary member account, and a ticket of high-level account is more than 5 yuan more expensive than Xiaobai account. In addition, since the second half of the year, the average price of movie ticket platform is 30-40 yuan, compared with 20 yuan a year ago.
Situation 2: Apple users are more expensive than Android users?
At present, most of your mobile phones are divided into two camps, namely, apple IOS system and Android system. However, a netizen found that it was more expensive to take a taxi with an Apple phone than with an Android phone.
In addition, some video websites will also give different charges according to different models of mobile phones. Taking a video website as an example, when a VIP member is opened, the price of Android users for one month, three months and six months is 20 yuan, 58 yuan and 108 yuan, respectively, and the annual fee is 198 yuan; however, Apple users need to pay 5-35 yuan for purchase. For the reason of the price difference, customer service said that it was due to the handling fee charged by apple.
Situation 3: do not buy price changes? Bundle last service by default?
According to media reports, online tourism platforms have been criticized for the most "big data corruption". A netizen said that when he booked a ticket on an online travel platform, the selected flight would rise every time he looked at it; when he chose the ticket and cancelled it, then he chose the ticket, the price immediately increased or even doubled. After he felt that it would be more expensive if he didn't buy it, he hurriedly placed an order, and found that the price of the flight returned to the original low price.
In addition, there is a default binding of corresponding services according to the 'last behavior' of users. For example, when a user who just registered as a member purchases a ticket, the system only displays the price of one ticket by default. Once he checks the VIP lounge, transfer service or hotel coupon and other additional services at the same time, the system will check the same service for him by default when placing an order next time.
Situation 4: different users, different prices
A netizen posted two screenshots on Weibo saying that he and his family searched for tickets in a travel app, but the price of the same flight at the same time and different mobile phones was different:
In addition to the above, in some websites, big V even enjoys privileges in customer service complaints and other aspects. At the same time, there is also the problem that the same user is sharing data between different websites. Many users have encountered the situation that the content searched or browsed in one website is immediately recommended by another website.
Is it price 'discrimination' or price 'mechanism', netizens and experts quarreled
Many netizens saw "big data discrimination" and said that they had encountered such situations:
But some netizens also said that we should proceed from the actual situation, and it is inevitable that there will be errors in taking a taxi:
Experts also have different views on this phenomenon:
Some experts believe that big data has realized the "first level price discrimination" in economics.
Liu Xin, a professor at the Institute of organization and human resources, School of public management, Renmin University of China, said: 'in the past, when it was about first-class price discrimination in economics, it sounded like a mirage. Now, with the so-called big data, it has been realized in a grand way. First level price discrimination, also known as complete price discrimination, has different prices for each unit of product. It assumes that monopolists know the maximum amount of money each consumer has to pay for any number of products, and determine the price accordingly, so that they can obtain the total consumption surplus of each consumer. '
Some experts also think that this is actually to provide more preferential policies for price sensitive people.
Zhou Tao, a well-known big data expert, director of big data research center of University of Electronic Science and technology and Professor doctoral director, said: 'let different consumers see different prices, and people often think it is price discrimination when they hear this. In fact, we can think in turn that some consumers see the original price, and some consumers may see the price after coupons and cash back coupons. In this sense, we can not understand it as price discrimination, but give more preferences to people who are more price sensitive. '
Is it illegal to kill big data
Big data technology itself is neutral, and the key lies in what users do.
A comment from the people's daily attracted netizens' attention. According to the review, from the perspective of welfare economics, it is not necessarily a bad thing to price differently for groups with different consumption capacities. However, the differential pricing of the same product at the same time, especially the situation that consumers are kept in the dark and increase the price at will, is not included. In order to obtain the gray excess profit, it damages the rights and interests of consumers, which has constituted the price fraud against consumers' right to know, and is not allowed by the price law.
Guangming commentator's article also pointed out that there is no problem in the premium behavior of the business itself, the problem is whether the premium is transparent. If regular customers generally have to pay more than the "normal price", or even the more expensive the price of regular customers, it obviously deviates from a simple principle of integrity, and it is also a direct failure to trust regular customers.
According to Article 3 of the provisions of the national development and Reform Commission on the prohibition of price fraud, price fraud refers to the behavior that operators use false or misleading price forms or price means to deceive and induce consumers or other operators to conduct transactions with them. According to this definition, "big data killing" obviously violates the regulations and is a typical price fraud.
In addition, the law on the protection of the rights and interests of consumers also stipulates that if a business operator commits fraud in providing goods or services, it shall, at the request of the consumer, increase the compensation for the losses it has suffered, and the increased amount shall be three times the price of the commodity purchased by the consumer.