This is how you can avoid price fluctuations online

When shopping online, prices can sometimes fluctuate significantly. This phenomenon is called “dynamic pricing”. But with a few tricks, you can avoid and outsmart price fluctuations.

Are you looking for a new smartphone, want to book a hotel room for your next vacation or need a pair of new shoes? Then it is most likely that you will start searching on the Internet.

The Germans generated sales of 85.4 billion euros in online retail in 2023 alone. According to forecasts, the number for 2024 could rise even further to 88.3 billion euros.

But finding the best prices when shopping online is not always easy. Numerous offers flood the market and algorithms also adapt the prices to your purchasing behavior using so-called dynamic pricing.

Was ist Dynamic Pricing?

Internet users are probably familiar with this phenomenon: after searching for a specific product, it suddenly becomes much more expensive the following day. Behind this is so-called dynamic pricing, which uses algorithms to adjust prices to the current market situation.

So if demand for a product increases, for example due to increased search queries or page views, the price will also be adjusted upwards. This can sometimes lead to strong fluctuations.

The whole thing works with the help of cookies, which are stored on your computer or smartphone every time you visit a website. In this way, the current demand for a product can be determined and the price can also be adjusted. Portals can also determine your personal interests based on your search behavior and thus adjust prices specifically for you.

What factors determine prices online?

But it's not just your search history that can influence pricing. Your current location, the time of your search query or even your place of residence can also be taken into account. For example, if you live in a region with high rents, it is quite possible that certain products and services will be offered to you online at a higher price.

But the device you use to search for a product or, for example, a hotel room can also influence the price offered to you. For example, it makes a difference whether you search from your smartphone or sit at home on your laptop or computer.

There are also websites that deliberately offer cheaper prices in their apps. For example, it is always worthwhile to search in parallel on your computer or smartphone.

What can you do about dynamic pricing?

If you want to avoid dynamic pricing, you should keep an eye on your cookies. It's worth deleting these regularly. This also applies to your browser history.

Many browsers now also offer private surfing. So you can move through the internet in incognito mode. Since the IP address is hidden, the providers cannot create a unique user profile for you or cannot assign this precisely.

It is also advisable not to rush into major purchases. It is worth keeping an eye on the prices over a longer period of time using comparison portals.

Also interesting: