Personalized pricing in the digital era

Personalized pricing can have negative or positive effects for consumers. Concerns are more likely to arise in circumstances where there is limited competition, or where consumers are unaware of, do not understand, and/or cannot avoid personalization. In some circumstances, personalization may be unfair or otherwise illegal under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 or other legislation. It may also distort competition and give rise to consumer harm and thereby infringe UK or EU competition law, or cause markets to not work effectively and therefore justify a market study or investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (‘CMA’) under the Enterprise Act 2002. This article considers how the CMA will tackle personalized pricing that may distort competition in digital markets.