New Internet Pricing Models Bring Pain, and Fortune, to Retailers
"[U]nlike financial instruments such as commodities futures, where supply and demand can fluctuate on a second-by-second basis, consumer demand for goods like groceries tends to be stable, enabling retail outlets to predict demand with relative accuracy and place their orders accordingly. So the volume of "damaged goods" like day-old bread may not be great enough to support variable pricing in the grocery segment—at least not on a widespread basis. And as Clemons’ marketing colleagues could have pointed out to Priceline, no consumer packaged goods manufacturer would want to participate in a system that "damaged" their products, their brands or their brand equity."