Middle-class households may face higher shopping costs due to surge pricing, warns Bank of England
Bank of England economists have warned that middle-class households may pay more for their shopping due to the rise of surge pricing and AI-driven pricing systems. These systems may charge higher prices to better-off customers to subsidize lower prices for poorer families, increasing price dispersion. The practice is already observed in the US and could soon be implemented in the UK.
Topics: algorithmic pricing Bank of England economic inequality retail pricing surge pricing