To lure cautious travellers back in the air, a non-stop, one-way plane ticket from LA to NY was as low as $90. At the onset of the pandemic, greed drove the cost of toilet paper to sell for $10 a roll in remote places. As ecommerce become the ultimate battleground, juggernauts like Amazon and Walmart invest heavily in AI for real-time, price-matching to win basket share. There is a myriad of drivers for dynamic pricing eg seasonality, omnichannel strategy, competition, supply changes and market demand, to grow market share and value.
Then a brand like Lifestyles comes along to do well by doing good with exceeding creativity. Their dynamic pricing raises awareness around public health, changes consumer behaviour as part of self-care, and increases sales. Lifestyles is the #1 sexual wellness brand in Australia. They turned to a different kind of “market index”. When cases of STI spike (as it has over the past decade in Australia with chlamydia up five-fold, and gonorrhea up 3x), the price of Lifestyles condoms go down.
There are several takeaways from Lifestyles –
- People before profit
- A big idea at its core
- Brilliantly executed around a taboo topic
- Demonstrating brand citizenship in their bottomline with agility
As countries start to lift pandemic restrictions, signs of recovery couldn’t be more encouraging. In the US, the travel industry is expecting a boost this summer (read: no more $90 tickets) because of revenge travel. The lockdowns and strict physical distancing had a knock-on effect on intimate occasions and sale of single-serve condoms. Demand is expected to bounce back but here’s hoping that Lifestyles will never need to decrease their prices again.