Property Developers Push for Open Drinking on City Streets

Variable pricing for alcohol drinks at different times of the day.

How much is a drink may have time sensitive  pricing in the future like the cost of cabs. End of fixed prices within five years as supermarkets adopt electronic price tags  

Bob P servingalcohol.com

Source: The Telegraph

Katie Morley

24 JUNE 2017

Fixed prices for consumer goods and services will be virtually non-existent within five years, experts predict, as an Uber-style pricing revolution is sweeping the UK.

"Peak time" pricing where the cost of items rises and falls according to demand is set to become commonplace in supermarkets, at petrol stations and on energy bills.

Unlike paper price tags, so called "e-prices" are linked to shops' computer systems which can move them up or down by up to 90pc in a day.

The technology lets shops react to events during which they can remove offers on sought-after items, for example ice creams and chilled drinks during heatwaves and sandwiches at lunchtime.

It is already commonplace in Europe and the US but is likely to cause a stir if introduced in the UK, where shoppers are increasingly cost-conscious.

It means families may soon find themselves spending significantly more or less in many aspects of their lives, depending on what time and day items or services are bought.

A number of Britain's biggest retailers are working on secret plans to install "surge pricing" systems where prices rise and fall according to demand in shops, it can be revealed.

Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons are replacing paper price tags on shelves in some stores with electronic labels, which let them change prices several times a day at the click of a button.

If the initial phase is successful they could remove paper price labels from all stores and move to a 100pc electronic pricing system.

It has also emerged that M&S trialled a similar system last year in a bid to manage the lunchtime rush in stores. By installing electronic labels it was able to offer attractive lunch offers before 11am before removing it in order to encourage people to buy their lunch earlier when stores are emptier.

"Peak time" pricing is also expected to be used for petrol pumps in the near future as technology has come to the Uk for the first time after proving popular in Scandinavia and the US.

As this newspaper reported last month British motorists will soon be forced to pay more for petrol on bank holidays and while doing the school run, under plans drawn up by supermarkets.

Such pricing systems are already commonplace in Europe and the US with the UK being a relatively late adopter of the technology.

However according to Andrew Dark, chief executive at electronic pricing firm Displaydata, demand for it among UK retailers is starting to "go beserk".

He said: "This kind of technology will be dominant in the UK within two years and within five years it will be rare to see a paper price tag. Paper tags often show the wrong prices as they have to be manually replaced by staff when prices move, but electronic labels can be updated in just 20 seconds.

"At present supermarkets are only able to act on around 20pc of the price changes their computer systems recommend, but this is about to change."

According to Roy Horgon, director at Markethub, another e-pricing firm, shops can improve their profit margins by up to 3 per cent by using technology, mainly as a result of reducing the amount of waste created by stock left at the end of the day.

Meanwhile energy firms will soon offer new "time of use" energy deals once the Government's smart meter rollout is complete, although it is likely that traditional tariffs will still remain.

On these tariffs, householders will pay more for watching television, charging gadgets and running the washing machine during morning and evening "rush hours". This is because smart meters transmit information about when you use most energy to suppliers, giving them the power to increase bills at busy times, just like paying off-peak and peak time travel.

Such deals will begin to dominate the energy market once so-called "second generation" smart meters have been installed in people's homes, according to switching service USwitch. 

A Sainsbury's spokesman said: "We always look at ways that technology can help us improve the shopping experience for our customers."

A Tesco spokesman said: "We are always looking at ways to improve the shopping experience for our customers and are currently trialling electronic shelf edge labels in one of our stores. We're still at the early stages of this trial and will review feedback from customers and colleagues before deciding next steps."

Morrisons said its trial was in the "early stages" and it had not yet decided whether to roll it out nationally.