个性化网购价 你的钱包有多鼓?

Allocating discounts with price-customisation software typically brings in two to four times as much money as offering the same discounts at random, claims Ravi Vijayaraghavan of [24]7, a Bangalore-based firm that develops and operates such software. One way to do this is to monitor how quickly shoppers click through towards the online seller's payment page: those who already seem set on buying need not be tempted with a special offer. Firms like [24]7 and RichRelevance, another price-customisation software firm, from San Francisco, are somewhat keener to talk about their software than the internet retailers who are trying it out. Mr Vijayaraghavan names United Airlines, for example, as among his big clients, but the airline declined to comment for this article.
基于班加罗尔开发和运营这种软件的公司[24]7，该公司Ravi Vijayaraghavan称，通过个性化价格软件来分配折扣，通常可以带来比随机分配折扣多两到四倍的营业额。其中一个方法是监测消费者在网站点入付账页面的速度：那些看起来已经决定了的买家不需要通过特价来吸引。另一家来自三藩市的价格个性化软件公司RichRelevance和[24]7公司一样，它们跟尝试软件的网上零售商相比，感觉更愿意畅谈这类软件。Vijayaraghavan称联合航空（United Airlines）便是他们其中一个大客户。然而该航空公司拒绝对此文章置评。

Andrew Fano, a consultant in Accenture's Chicago office, reckons that at least six of America's ten biggest web retailers are now customising prices in some way, but it is hard for shoppers to spot when this is going on. If they knew, many would feel that it is "pushing the boundaries" of fairness, notes Werner Reinartz, a University of Cologne marketing professor and consultant to two Fortune 500 companies that use customisation techniques.
埃森哲咨询公司（Accenture）芝加哥分部的顾问Andrew Fano称，美国最大的十家的网络零售商中，最少六家现在或多或少地在使用个性化价格，但消费者本身很难发现自己所在的处境。如果他们知道，很多人将感觉在试探公平原则的底线。这是由Cologne大学市场营销教授Werner Reinartz提出的，他同时也是财富500强里两家使用价格个性化技术公司的顾问。

Mr Reinartz preaches caution lest companies be dragged through an ordeal pioneered by Amazon in the autumn of 2000. Word broke that the internet giant was selling DVDs at differing prices, to see which web browsers happened to be favoured by shoppers least concerned about cost, former executives say. The resulting backlash prompted it to refund those who paid more, and Amazon now declines to discuss its pricing system.
Reinartz提醒公司要预防陷入2000年秋亚马逊为此成为先烈的经历。时任总裁称，在网上流传这家互联网巨头以不同价钱卖DVD，用来分析哪个浏览器的用户更不在意价格。引起的反弹致使公司给多付钱的客户退款，亚马逊现已拒绝对其标价系统置评。

Users of price-customisation software have so far been reluctant to peep at potential customers' social-media pages, for fear that this would provoke a privacy backlash. But the operators at the call centres [24]7 runs for its clients are beginning to scan Twitter for gen on the shoppers they are talking to—and sometimes, says Mr Vijayaraghavan, their tweets give useful hints about whether a discount is needed to clinch the sale.
个性化价格软件的用户至今还不敢窥视潜在客户的社交网页，因担心这将引起关于私隐的反弹。但24[7]公司客服中心的客户代表，已经开始代客户在Twitter上追溯消费者聊天的关系网。Vijayaraghavan称，有时候用户的微博会透露究竟是否需要折扣来达成交易。