Dynamic Pricing Everywhere

Dynamic pricing, also referred to as surge pricing, demand pricing, or time-based pricing is a pricing strategy in which businesses set flexible prices for products or service based on current market demands.

The dynamic pricing isn’t just for airlines anymore. Other industries, such as auto and real estate, will also rely on the model so that they can better manage available inventory and reduce production costs. It could also have implications for the customer journey, as it allows users to get better deals depending on when they purchase and how much stock is available at the time.

Companies such as Merest are already providing solutions that are able to give instantaneous pricing intelligence and help the retailer fight back. By compiling key information including product costs, stock levels and margins, and then analysing and comparing with other online and offline marketplace prices, shops can respond more quickly and adjust their prices with optimised promotions and offers.

GenZ Time

In 2019, Generation Z will outnumber Millennials, that generation you’ve loved to hate for the past decade. “Generation Z is now heading into the workforce in meaningful numbers and for the first time in modern history five generations will be working side-by-side,” says Michael Dell, CEO and chairman of Dell Technologies.

Gen Z — which Pew Research Center defines as those born from 1997 onward — will be about one-third of the global population and one-fifth of its workers. What is this new generation’s work ethic? “My experience is that they lean in and lean hard,” says best-selling author Brené Brown. About half of her staff is Gen Z.

“They are all very different people, but as a group I experience them as curious, hopeful, always learning, painfully attuned to the suffering in the world, and anxious to do something about it”. Generation Z is the demographic cohort following Generation Y, also known as the Millennials or the Millennial Generation; other names suggested for the cohort include iGeneration (iGen), Gen Tech, Gen Wii, Net Gen, Digital Natives and Plurals.

Immersive reality will transform new sectors

Virtual, augmented and mixed realities will join to create new experiences for consumers and will creep even further into areas like retail, manufacturing and healthcare. While virtual and augmented reality have been a ‘thing’for some time now, new developments are creating huge leaps in the performance, affordability and mobility of these technologies.

 As a result, we will continue to see fast-growing development for both these solutions as they move towards their market potential. For VR, what will be different in 2019 is that this demand will come from new sectors. For example, while gaming and entertainment will continue to fuel sales, industries like manufacturing, healthcare and retail will increasingly use immersive technologies to help with training and education.

AR is in a different phase of its adoption journey and, as a newer-to-market technology, we will likely see strongest growth in the entertainment sector as consumers get to grips with more feature-rich AR technologies.

Digital brand relevance first

“Winners in 2019 will be those organizations that provide a sense of value and relevance not only to individuals, but also to the world,” said Brian Whipple, CEO of Accenture Interactive. “Value creation will not come from simply growing bigger, but by being better. Consistent with our mission to create, build and run the best customer experiences for our clients.

we believe this year’s trends support our guiding principle that the best experiences are those that make people’s lives better, more productive, and more meaningful”. This mind set shift has major implications — and creates massive opportunities — for organizations and for customer experience. It’s time to take stock and rethink products, services, and experiences that people actually want and value.

These brands have barrelled through passive exposure to come to life, actively participating with customers. They use technology to be more human, creating new experiences to engage with people in ways that enrich their lives.

Medicine goes B2C

“Thanks in large part to digital technology, rising health care costs, and increased competition, patients have become empowered consumers. As a result, they will be expecting more from health care. Much like the retail industry, patients want easy, seamless, and transparent consumer-like experiences.

 We will see more and more patients become discerning shoppers, comparing prices for physicians and health plans and expecting accurate upfront costs for services, just as they would with other products. They will increasingly look for ways to receive care outside of traditional doctor’s office visits by exploring digital health care options such as telemedicine and chat bot technology.

 Health care organizations are going to feel the pressure, and put even more emphasis on patient engagement, transparency into health care costs, quality, and value-based care. Consumers won’t stand for anything less.”

Tech goes to Sleep

Tech has already infiltrated your waking hours. Now, it’s coming for your sleep. From smart mattresses to smart pillows, the products that are being released into the sleep market aim to improve sleep by tracking some of the most enigmatic hours of our days. In 2019, we will see that the Trojan horse into this industry is wearable technology.

 Fit Bit announced in August 2018 that it had plans to launch a sleep tracking program known as Sleep Score. The technology will use heart-rate tracking sensors on newer FitBits to give users nightly sleep scores and comprehensive views on how they’ve been sleeping. The sensors can measure oxygen levels in the blood and detect events that might be disrupting breathing during sleep.

Here's what happens: Using TVs, tablets, smartphones, laptops, or other electronic devices before bed delays your body's internal clock (a.k.a., your circadian rhythm), suppresses the release of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, and makes it more difficult to fall asleep.