Dynamic pricing services in

e-commerce ecosystems
An exploratory study of context,
technologies, and practices
Ludvig Lundström

Department of informatics
Magister thesis, 15 hp
IT-management
SPM 2021.27
 Abstract
The development of e-commerce has seen a considerable rise in the last decade, with many
companies starting online stores. While there is research regarding e-commerce, the
concept of dynamic pricing within the e-commerce ecosystem still has a gap. This study
seeks to explore and present how a dynamic pricing system can be delivered within an e-
commerce setting. With insights from DynamicX, an intelligent dynamic pricing system
organization, and through thematic analysis, the result is presented through four themes
regarding e-commerce and dynamic pricing. The findings presented in the discussion
related to the past, the present, and the future of dynamic pricing systems in e-commerce
with a focus on context, technologies, and practices.

Keywords: E-commerce ecosystem, dynamic pricing services systems, online retailing

1. Introduction
The internet and digital economy have seen rapid development in the last two decades, with
information technology being the driving force. With organizations developing better
technologies for example enhanced images of products and better services, more detailed
information about products, and improved services, this has led to a change in consumer's
behaviors. More and more consumers are relying on internet shopping instead of traditional
shopping (Mital, 2013). From when global e-commerce began in 1995, having a €1.96 billion
business-to-consumer value, to €14.2 trillion in 2016, seeing an enormous increase in
growth. E-commerce has also transformed from a mechanism for product sales online, to
something much broader. Today, e-commerce offers unique services, a platform for media,
and other capabilities that cannot be found in the physical world (Laudon & Travel, 2016).
Online retailing has over the last decades witnessed a strong and steady increase in sales
and the way customers purchase products and services has fundamentally changed. The
characteristics and traits of online shopping are unique compared to traditional shopping
since the shopping process and activities can be tracked both accurately and instantaneously.
This has led to the importance of using data in organizations, as it can assist in business
decisions and pricing strategies. (Chen, Sain & Gou, 2012).
There is little doubt that big data has changed the way many organizations and industries
operate. It is transforming both organizations, the products, and services we consume, as
well as how we make decisions. It is widely used by tech giants such as Amazon and Google,
and the data has created many opportunities for organizations to gain competitive
advantages (Marr, 2015)
With organizations such as Amazon taking more ground in the online retailing landscape
and developing new systems for pricing (Li, Li & Shao, 2016) as well as more data being
generated and becoming more accessible coupled with the technologies such as artificial
intelligence and machine learning becoming more evolved (Brynjolfsson & McAfee 2017), it
is an exciting time for e-commerce. Research also shows that there has been a huge injection

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of big data analytics in e-commerce the recent years, with studies showing that organizations
with big data analytics experience 5-6% higher productivity compared to competitors (Akter
& Wamba, 2016).
While writing this thesis, the COVID-19 pandemic is still at large and its effect on the
world has not gone unnoticed. Roggeveen & Sathuraman (2020) writes that the long-term
effect of the virus is yet to be determined, the retailing industry is being affected significantly.
Retailers who supply essential goods such as food, groceries, and healthcare are expecting an
increase in demand and arising opportunities such as serving customers at home, they are
facing challenges regarding inventory, supply chain management, and keeping a safe
environment in their facilities. On the other hand, retailers who supply non-essential goods,
such as clothes and footwear, are expecting a drop in sales and are forced to adopt new ways
to reach and engage with their customers who are shopping from home.
A study from the University of Copenhagen and CEBI, using transaction-level customer
data from the largest bank in Denmark, shows an estimate of 93,4% increase in online
groceries sales and an increase of 21.6% in online retailing, while the travel industry has seen
a decrease of 85,5% (Andersen, Hansen, Johannesen & Sheridan, 2020).
As we can see from these studies, the COVID-19 pandemic has, to say the least, changed
the way e-commerce operates. This pandemic may also have big implications on how
companies communicate and leverage their products and services to their customers, forcing
many to take the next step into e-commerce.
As Chen et al. (2012) explains, e-commerce and online retailing have seen a strong
increase in the past decade, and the way consumer purchase wares have changed. The
ongoing Covid-19 pandemic also has affected e-commerce in many ways (Roggeveen &
Sathuraman, 2020) and it is an exciting time for e-commerce. Akter & Wamba (2016) also
states that although there is an increase in research within this field, much of the research is
fragmented. Finally, where there is research being conducted in e-commerce, the specific
field of dynamic pricing services and how the role of this service is being delivered in the
ecosystem of e-commerce is lacking.
As e-commerce grows, the concept of dynamic pricing and the system that delivers this
has also seen a rise, with companies such as Uber implementing their surge system to
achieve dynamic pricing. The concept can be defined as “the study of determining optimal
selling prices of products and services, in a setting where prices can easily and frequently
be adjusted” (den Boer, 2015, p.2). The literature on dynamic pricing comes from many
different areas, from economics to computer science.
The purpose of this study is therefore to conduct research and to add to the fragmented
research regarding dynamic pricing service within e-commerce, by seeking how this service
is being delivered and how the processes look like. This is with the assistant of an
organization that delivers this type of service and has great knowledge regarding the
ecosystem.
From the purpose, the research question is, therefore:

• How can dynamic pricing services be delivered in e-commerce ecosystems?

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2. Related research
In this chapter, the research in form of peer-reviewed articles and other scholarly materials
will be presented.

2.2 E-commerce
To be successful in the e-commerce business, Laudon & Travel (2016) emphasize the need
for an e-commerce business model, which, unlike a normal business model, also includes
elements such as how to use and leverage unique qualities of the internet and the World
Wide Web. The authors identify eight elements that they highlight as important to develop a
successful business. These eight elements are value proposition, revenue model, market
opportunity, competitive environment, competitive advantage, market strategy,
organizational development, and revenue model. As we can see, some of these elements’
correlate to some degree with the parameters which setting a price function within. The
elements within the e-commerce business model have changed from its traditional version,
for example, the value proposition in an e-commerce organization might include
personalization and customization of product offerings, reduction of the product search cost,
and managing product delivery.
In the value proposition element, Laudon & Travel (2016) gives the example of Amazon
and how before Amazon existed, most customers were required to travel to a book retailer to
purchase a book. Sometimes the book might not have been in stock and the customer had to
wait several days for it to arrive. While with the creation of Amazon, customers can purchase
a book practically anywhere and anytime and print it in their home or office, or read it
directly online, which makes their primary value proposition their unparallel selection and
convenience of their products. Competitive environment refers to companies selling similar
products and operating within the same marketplace, additionally can refer to the presence
of substitute products and new companies within a market. This is an increasingly important
factor in e-commerce since more and more organizations move to e-commerce or utilize
online shopping as an addon to their existing stores (Laudon & Travel, 2016). Laudon &
Travel (2016) writes that firms can achieve a competitive advantage when they can either
produce a superior product or when they can bring the product to market for a lower price
than most, if not all, competitors within the market.
A summary of several studies in online markets by Joseph (2018) showed that consumers
are more sensitive to prices in traditional stores compared to prices in online stores.
According to the study, the reason behind this is the characteristics of online shopping. The
cost for searching for products is lower which allows customers to more easily locate
products that meet their demands, which results in lesser concern about minor price
variations. Further, missing information about certain products in online shopping pushes
the customers towards brand reputation instead of other signals of quality when choosing the
specific product (Joseph, 2018).

2.2 Dynamic pricing

Setting a price for a product or a service is a complex, but necessary process. It does not only
require knowledge about the customer's willingness to pay, but also different estimations

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about future demands and the abilities an organization possesses to adjust strategies for
competitive pricing. With the development and establishment of different digital channels,
the concept of dynamic pricing represents a promising solution for this complex and
challenging process (Maestre, Duque, Rubio & Aravelo, 2018).
The concept of dynamic pricing has, however, been around since the 1970s where the
airline industry implemented this type of fluctuating price system. The concept can be
defined as “the study of determining optimal selling prices of products and services, in a
setting where prices can easily and frequently be adjusted” (den Boer, 2015, p.2). The
concept can be applied to both online stores on the internet, as well as brick-and-mortar
stores where digital price tags exist. In the e-commerce environments, digital sales often
generate much data for organizations which contains insights on for example consumer
behavior and how consumers react to different price points. One of the key factors in
succeeding in the process of dynamic pricing is to extract the knowledge from these large
data sets that often is produced in e-commerce and applying this to the parameters and
factors that are implemented in the dynamic pricing system. This is especially important in
uncertain industries, where customers behaviors can change rapidly (den Boer, 2015).
In more recent years this system has been popularized by many new innovative services
such as Uber with their surge pricing system and retailers such as Zara with their systematic
dynamic pricing strategy. Today, the concept of dynamic pricing strategies is highly
requested and desired by online retailers due to the more complex nature and requirements
of today’s e-commerce ecosystems. While large organizations such as Amazon and Taobao
sell millions or even billions of products yearly, it is nearly impossible to manually set prices
for the products (Liu, Zhang, Wang, Deng, Wu, 2019).

2.3 Value co-creation

As the importance of service innovation is growing, and firms cannot overlook this anymore
with products or services become more homogenous and there is a rising difficulty to find
competitive advantage, service innovation is an effective way to accelerate growth and
profits. And while the concept of service innovation has been researched the last couple of
decades, the changing environments of both IT and with consumers having different and new
preferences, this topic is still important for organizations, whether they are providing
services to businesses or customers (Chen, Tsou, Huang, 2009).
One system that has gained popularity is the online recommendation system, which
improves customer’s online shopping experience by utilizing past transaction data to predict
customer purchasing patterns (Li, Li & Shao, 2016). To illustrate, the authors write that
Amazon increased nearly 30% of their sales by the development of their online
recommendation system, which is based on customers browsing history. This system did not
only help Amazon increase their sales, but also control the security and price of the items by
analyzing data provided from products and customers. However, these categories of systems
often only deal with text data, leaving data such as images and multimedia fairly unused,
while images and multimedia data provide much richer intelligence than data from text.
Marr (2015) describes how big data can be explained and categorized into 4 V’s. Volume is
the first and it describes the vast amount of data being generated continuously. Secondly, the

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authors mention Velocity, which is relating to the speed at which new data is being produced.
The third parameter mentioned is Variety and it explains the increasingly different types and
formats of the data that is being generated, from social media, feeds to video files. The last V
the author describes is Veracity, which is related to the disorganized form data is being
generated. The example of Twitter posts is given in the book, which explains the problem of
analyzing different hashtags and text posts. Marr (2015) however argues for a fifth V, Value,
which refers to different strategies and tools to creating value for your organization through
the vast number of different types of data.
Big data analytics can enable e-commerce organizations to track consumers behavior and
find ways to make them repeat buyers. These types of analytics can also improve decision-
making within an organization as well as allowing the firms to utilize their data more
effectively and efficiently (Akter & Wamba, 2016).
The concept of value co-creation, i.e., the process where multiple actors integrate their
resources in order to create value, is becoming more important in e-commerce (Paredes,
Barrutia, Echebarria, 2014). This does not only imply collaboration between organizations
and customers, but organizations to organizations as well. By sharing resources, the actors
have more possibilities of creating more value for themselves and their customers. This is
affected by the rising perspective of service-dominated logic, which draws on the idea that it
is not only the goods that are important but the service that is established and the unique
characteristics it brings. In the context of e-commerce, S-D logic suggests that a website can
provide different values to different actors, depending on the characteristics and context. S-D
logic was originally based on the resource-advantage theory, which in turn is based on the
resource-based view theory. The RBV-theory defines resources as “all assets, capabilities,
organizational processes, firm attributes, information, knowledge, etc., controlled by a firm
that enable the firm to conceive of and implement strategies that improve its efficiency and
effectiveness” (Paredes et al., 2014, p.114).
In the wake of the more complex environment of e-commerce, and the advancement in
both data collection technologies, types and amounts of data, more products, and the need
for service innovation, new organizations have emerged which assist organizations in their
pricing strategy (Lim, et al, 2018). The listed reason has opened and provided many new
opportunities for data-driven service value creation, however, scholars argue that a research
gap exists between data and value creation, even though these subjects have been on the
agenda for some while. Lim et al., (2018). argues that using data to create value is essentially
about changes in organizations, and while research exists regarding data collection and data
analytics, it is not completely understood how different types of activities and resources can
be combined to create value. This makes data value creation an interdisciplinary topic.

3. Method
In this chapter, the method of the thesis will be presented. Beyond that, discussions will be
held regarding data collection and analysis, ethical choices, as well as literature.

3.1 Research design

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 The research method for this thesis will be of the qualitative sort as I argue that it is more
suited for this study and in order to answer the research question compared to a quantitative
research approach. Myers (2013) describes and compares qualitative and quantitative
research methods, by listing their characteristics. The data gathered from this approach will
mostly come in the form of documentation from the aforementioned methods and will
conclude what people say, what they think, as well as their actions, and the purpose of this is
to understand and uncover the motivations of the subject. This is understood from people's
stories, activities, and the context they live in.
The quantitative method is, through its use of numerical data, well-suited when
examining a larger population for example when studying a specific topic and trying to
generalize the data. Through this approach patterns and trends can be more easily identified.
Myers (2013) however, describes how this method lacks social and cultural aspects and in the
context of the study. While qualitative data can create rich insights for these aspects, it is still
only a sample.
Comparing these two approaches, the qualitative research design was chosen as I argue
that it is better suited. The research question and purpose of the thesis require in-depth data
to develop an understanding of the presented context. A quantitative research design could
be useful if the thesis would include more organizations in the industry or the perspective of
the study was different.
This study is explorative, seeking to understand and explain the role of DynamicX in the
e-commerce ecosystem, what their services might entail and how they are delivered. By
conducting research with this organization, it will allow the thesis to gain valuable insights
into this research context and therefore be able to answer the research question.

3.2 Research context

To answer the research questions and to be able to gain more insights into the subject at
hand, I had the opportunity to work with an organization that works with supplying dynamic
pricing and intelligence to the organization they work with. This organization will be named
DynamicX for the purpose of this thesis. This was an exceptional approach to get a better
understanding of the industry as well as get DynamicX and their employees' views on the
research topic. DynamicX started in 2006 and its mission is to deliver a complete and exact
view of its customers, products, and how they compare to any competition on the market
through data-driven processes on a daily basis. Since DynamicX was founded in 2006 they
have been in this industry for a long time and therefore were a great collaborative partner. In
DynamicX customer base, we find experienced and large companies, as well as smaller
organizations. By aiding in crucial business decisions to both retailers and manufacturers,
DynamicX makes sure their customers always have the best information possible ready and
through their systems can deliver pricing reports based on data scoured from thousands of
websites and even automatically change prices depending on data parameters. DynamicX
utilizes a range of influences to guide them to the correct price points. These data parameters
consist of competitors, margins, the competitors' price, traffic for the products, the
company’s reputation level, as well as sales figures. DynamicX can track any website and
marketplace, in any language or currency, with any product on the market, including private

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labels. By combining these data sources, for their customers, DynamicX provides monitoring
and reports, automatic and manual price updates as well as price matching towards
competitors through their AI platform. This platform is data-driven and automatic, through
the data-scarping happening every day on the web. DynamicX is a unique actor in the huge e-
commerce ecosystem by providing services and information regarding dynamic pricing and
can therefore give deep insights into the industry and the emerging and important concept of
data-driven dynamic pricing.

3.3 Literature
The main source of literature for this thesis is from peer-reviewed articles as well as course
literature from my time at Umeå university within the subject. The collection of relevant
articles and books was made possible from keywords and searching different databases, such
as Google scholar and Umeå University’s library page. Examples of keywords that were used
in the search were “E-commerce”, “Online retailing”, “Dynamic pricing”, “Innovation”,
“Pricing strategy”. These keywords were also mixed in different ways to find different
articles.
When finding relevant articles, I also made sure to look at what references the authors
were using, to be able to find further articles that could be used for the research purpose.
Textbooks and material from previous university courses were also used when saw fit. When
searching for articles in the websites listed above, a filter was also used to make sure the
articles were not too old and therefore still relevant since this is a field in which a lot of
development and new research is constantly being created. The filter was usually from 2010
and forward to make sure the literature is relevant, with a few exceptions such as literature
relating to method, qualitative research, and thematic analysis.

3.4 Data collection

To be able to answers the research question, the main data collection for this thesis was
semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews often contain fewer questions than
for example structured interviews. This type of interview also utilizes some pre-formulated
questions, but leaves room for new questions during the conversation, if the interviewee
mentions something interesting regarding the topic. One of the advantages of this approach
is that it tries to take the best of both structured and unstructured interviews while trying to
minimize risks such as missing out on new insights. Semi-structured interviews are also one
of the most used types of interviews in business and management (Myers, 2013). My
personal preference is also semi-structured interviews when it fits the area of study since it
has more flexibility compared to structured interviews as mentioned, but the researcher still
has the foundation of a few key questions. The reasons presented above are why I chose
semi-structured interviews over their alternatives.
To find suitable people to interview for this thesis, the snowball sampling technique was
utilized. Snowball sampling is when after the first interview, you ask the respondent if he or
she has any suggestions on who to further interview, in this case within the company. This
helps the researcher to gain access to other interviewees and to gain new insights and
interview data (Myers, 2013).

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 For this study, all the interviews were conducted online. Furthermore, all the interviews
were conducted in Swedish since both I and the interviewees are Swedish. The interviews
and selected quotes were then translated to the best of my ability, to both keep the specific
words right as well as the meaning of the paragraph.
Respondent #1-4 works at DynamicX and respondent #5 works with e-commerce and has
used DynamicX services in some of the companies he has worked with.

Respondent Role Length of interview Employed at

name/number DynamicX
Respondent #1 CEO 46 minutes Yes
Respondent #2 CGO 44 minutes Yes
Respondent #3 Programmer 32 minutes Yes
Respondent #4 Sales 17 minutes Yes
Respondent #5 N/A 29 minutes No

Figure 1: Descriptions of respondents.

Other than interviews, secondary data has also been gathered. DynamicX supplied different
types of documents from their organization. By triangulating data from e.g., interviews and
documents provided by the organization, allows the research to get a fuller picture and more
insights into the research topic. Triangulation is defined as the idea that the researcher
should do more than just one thing in the study. This could refer to both combining
qualitative and quantitative research methods, or such as in this case, using two or more
techniques to gather data (Myers, 2013).

3.5 Data analysis

For analyzing the gathered data, the chosen method was thematic analysis. Thematic
analysis is a method for recognizing, analyzing, and reporting different patterns and themes
within the accumulated data (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The authors also argue that thematic
analysis is widely used, there is however no clear agreement on exactly how to use it. The
method does not require as much theoretical and technological knowledge as other
approaches, such as grounded theory and discourse analysis, which can be a more accessible
option form of analysis, especially for researchers that are in the earlier stages of their
qualitative career. This is one of the main reasons I chose this data analysis method.
Braun & Clarke (2006) defines a theme as something important within the data in
relation to the research questions and purpose of the study. It should represent a patterned
response or meaning throughout the data. The themes should ideally appear multiple times
within the data, however, just because there are multiple instances of a certain theme does
not necessarily point to the significance of the theme in question. As this is a part of a
qualitative study, there are no decided answers to the question of what qualifies as a theme,
therefore it is mostly up to the researcher’s judgment to decide what is classified as a theme.

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 The thematic analysis consists of six phases and Braun & Clarke (2006) highlight the
importance of considering these steps as guidelines and not rules. The analytical process is
not linear, rather it is a recursive process, where the researcher goes back and forth in the
phases as necessary, which I noticed quickly while analyzing the data was necessary.
The first step that I did when conducting the thematic analysis was to transcribe the
recorded interviews, while simultaneously familiarizing myself with the material, making
notes on potential interesting insights and ideas. After this, initial codes were generated, that
I believed could be interesting for the purpose of the thesis, this was mostly done in word
documents, utilizing their comment feature on words or sentences. When the initial coding
was done, I began to create different themes, making sure they were relevant and thinking
about potential names and definitions of these themes. Lastly, the themes produced the
result, trying to choose compelling quotes and insights to answer the research question and
purpose. The thematic analysis was indeed a very iterative process for me when analyzing the
data, going back and forth in the phases, finding new codes, changing, and renaming themes,
to finally produce the finding of the analysis.
During the first analysis of the interviews, many themes and ideas came up, with
examples such as e-commerce, data services, dynamic pricing, e-commerce services, the
effect of these concepts within e-commerce, and the respondent’s opinion about these
concepts. These themes then went through the iterative process presented, with different
certain quotes and material from the respondents changed from theme to theme. Some
themes were deemed too similar to others and were then combined into one theme. In the
end, the themes are the four points presented in the results.

3.6 Ethical principles

The Swedish research council mentions four main claims to research, to guide researchers so
that the thesis is ethically correct and that the participants feel comfortable with their
participation in the study. The four requirements that the council mentions are the
information requirement, the consent requirement, the confidentiality requirement, and the
use requirement. The information requirement refers to the fact that the researcher should
inform participants of their purpose and tasks within the study as well as what terms are
applied for their participation. The second principle, the consent requirement, refers to the
need for the researcher to collect consent from the participants. In some cases, consent is
also needed from the parents or guardians, if the participant is for example under 15 years
old. The confidentiality requirement refers to the fact that sensitive information about
specific individuals should not be shared without consent. What refers to sensitive
information might differ depending on where the research is being conducted and when it is
made, but a guideline is that the concerned should not feel uncomfortable or offended by the
material. The final principle mentioned by the council is the use consent, which refers to the
fact that information collected for the purpose of the study may not be used for commercial
or other non-scientific purposes (Vetenskapsrådet, 2018).
When writing this thesis, these four principles were always considered during the writing
of this thesis, especially when conducting the interviews. The respondents were asked if they

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accepted if the interview was recorded and were made sure they are anonymous in the
research paper unless permission had been given from the interviewee.

3.7 Method discussion

The study was successful even though limitations were in place. As mentioned all the
interviews were conducted online in the program Skype and the reason for this was mainly
because of the geographical distance between Umeå where I currently reside and Stockholm,
where DynamicX is based. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic also played a part in my choice
not to travel to Stockholm. Even though I would have preferred to conduct the interviews
face-to-face I do not believe it had any major effect on the result of the study, since the
respondents and I still saw each other through web cameras. Salmons (2014) states that in
online interviews, the interviewee must find new ways of building trust and motivating the
respondents. I believe I did this by starting each interview by discussing the thesis,
explaining my academic background, as well as assuring the respondents of the ethical
guidelines presented above. The reasons presented above is my argument for why I made the
choices mentioned.
After the first interview, I noticed that some of my questions were obsolete, partly because
the respondents answering more than the question asked and the interviews became more of
a dialog, rather than back and forth questions and answers. The questions were slightly
changed after the first interview was complete, to create a better foundation for the coming
interviews, which in turn lead to more fluent interviews with the respondents.
A qualitative research method fits both the subject at hand as well as my personal
experiences. Since the study is largely centered around how the dynamic pricing system can
be delivered in e-commerce settings, how the history and the future can look like, and a focus
on context, technologies, and practices it is my opinion that a qualitative method suited this
study best, as Myers (2013) states that qualitative research help researchers to understand
what people do and say, within the specific context. Understanding how an organization such
as DynamicX, which has been active in dynamic pricing systems since 2006 has been
delivering its services and system, and how this concept has been developed over time, and
what the future might entail would be hard unless I spoke with them in interviews.
DynamicX has been around, as mentioned, since 2006 and is, therefore, a good candidate
organization to aid this thesis, with the experience and knowledge that they have. The
different interview respondents also had different roles within the organization which gave
different perspectives and insights on the areas of the thesis.

4. Results
In the following section, results will be presented from the data collection, from the semi-
structured interviews held with the employees of DynamicX and a respondent who has
worked with e-commerce in various companies.

4.1 The e-commerce ecosystem

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The respondents were all asked about not just only the general development of e-commerce,
but also what they found most interesting and effective for the industry of e-commerce.
Many of the comments made during this theme were about how data, automatization, and
artificial intelligence are driving the development of e-commerce. Mentions regarding the e-
commerce ecosystem were also made, with many of the comments pointing towards the big
global actors such as Amazon expanding, forcing local actors to interact, and be affected by
this shift in the e-commerce ecosystem.
The chief growth officer explains how with the rise of data, automation, and machine
learning that everything can and should be automated. He continues to explain how with
these data-driven technologies, the product managers can keep track of thousands of
products, which without these technologies would be impossible. He thereafter explains how
it is a very good time to be a product manager, with the amount of data available for
organizations and how it assists the organizations in making well-grounded decisions.

”…For price strategists, it is like Christmas right now, because you can make better
decisions with the data available. You can see how many users visit a site and view stock
rotation. I think this role, whether it is called price strategist or something else, will
grow, both in education and in the industry.” - Respondent #2

Respondent #2 continues by stating that how the industry has changed, especially for
smaller companies that work with e-commerce. Even though they are smaller, these
organizations often have many products and it has been a problem keeping track of them.
However, with companies such as DynamicePrice and the services they provide, their
customers have seen an increase in the prices of their products, even with just simpler price
regulations and functions.

”Even the smaller e-retailers can have up to 3000 products and we have customers that
have over 1 million products and there are ways to increase the price of many products
which you did not know. Previously you could not focus on every single product.” -
Respondent #2

Respondent #2 continues to explain that this is a positive thing for organizations in e-

commerce, not only because of internal processes but because of large organizations such as
Amazon gaining more ground and entering the Scandinavian market.

“Amazon can help themselves with everything they want. They can enter any branch
they want, as we already see with streaming and movies.” – Respondent #2

Respondent #1 echoes this statement, saying that Amazon is establishing itself fast in the
Swedish and Scandanavian market and that many of DynamicX customers are feeling
anxious. Respondent #4, however, shares that it is no certainty that Amazon or similar
companies will take over, arguing that the Price is not always what matters the most, factors
such as customer serving or other shopping experiences can create a more meaningful
experience, and therefore outweigh the price. Finally, respondent #3 is also unsure about
Amazon and what their impact will be.

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 ”Many e-retailers are curious about Amazon and it will probably change a lot, but I am
personally not sure that Amazon will work in Sweden, but we will see.” – Respondent #3

Respondent #4 states that a big factor is customers service and treatment, it is not only the
cheapest price that matters, pointing to factors beyond the cost of a product. This can include
brand loyalty or perks such as bonuses or free shipping.

”It is not always the price that matters, if you get excellent customer service for example,
that might weigh higher. Some of the bigger companies follow the recommended price
and do not have the cheapest price on the market, but for some reason, the consumers
choose to buy there anyway. Customer service and customer treatment also matters.” –
Respondent #4

Respondent #4 highlights the importance of keeping track of the industry in today’s markets,
to make sure the organization's pricing strategy keeps being relevant. He also mentions that
it is hard to keep track of these without the use of IT and technology, and data being an
important part of this.

”It is very important to keep track of the industry and market that you are operating in,
to make sure your pricing strategy is relevant. To keep your ear to the ground to
understand these sharp turns and being able to react to them. As a human, it is hard to
keep track of these factors” -Respondent #4

4.2 Data conditions

The respondents were asked about their views on data and the necessary conditions for the
services they provide, as well as the technologies that enable these services. The respondents
generally had some different views on the necessity and usefulness of these technologies, but
the consensus was that they are very important, but the area in which they should operate,
and the opinions of the functions were more scattered. Some technologies that were
frequently brought up were artificial intelligence and machine learning. The respondents’
views differed on these topics, ranging from believing it was a great tool to being more
cautious. Whether it was black boxing certain solutions or simply the fact that what some
consider artificial intelligence, is in fact only is regular programming was some of the
concerns they had. Concerns about developing and implementing artificial intelligence were
also mentioned, as it can be a time and resource-consuming investment.
Respondent #3 tells me about different collaborations with universities and how it can be
hard to choose artificial intelligence since they still are small organizations, and it is time-
consuming, and it requires the correct experience and knowledge about it.

”We have been working with universities regarding AI… but since we are a small
company, it can be hard to choose the AI-way when developing a new product or
service, when we do not have that much experience with it within the firm…there are
other ways to solve problems” -Respondent #3

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 Respondent #3 continues by stating that artificial intelligence is a trend but contemplates
how much of it is artificial intelligence and not simply some form of programming, he does
however mention that he still believes that there are many possibilities with artificial
intelligence solutions, by simply looking at the huge amounts of data that is available today.

“We work with many data parameters, but it is often the profit that is interesting which
is affected by a range of parameters such as the number of sales, marketing, product
popularity, season and holidays, the time of day, and much more. If you have a lot of
data regarding this, I think you could create some sort of AI for this.” -Respondent #3

Respondent #5 seems to share the view that simply calling something an AI solution does not
make it true. He continues by stating that he believes that artificial intelligence has more
uses in personalization and there is more to discover in price strategies before it becomes
necessary.

“There are many that say that they have an AI-solution, but it could be a rule base
algorithm, there are many different definitions of what AI is, I don’t think there are that
many that are working with real AI…I think it has more uses in personalization, rather
than pricing. I think in pricing we have more ground to discover before AI becomes
necessary.” – Respondent #5

Respondent #3 describes how he believes that there are possibilities for AI solutions within
e-commerce, considering how much data is available today.

Respondent #5 describes how the most competitive organizations can see the value in
artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, however, he also describes a
reluctance towards solutions where artificial intelligence performs a process without the
programmers knowing exactly how and why, e.g., black box solutions.

“Yeah, I think so, everyone that is on the leading edge, that have some sort of competitive
advantage can see the value of these systems, to try to experiment, etc. But I am a bit
against these black box solutions.” – Respondent #5

4.3 Value creation operation

When asking the respondents about how they are creating value for their customers, many of
them mentioned the different data parameters and how they are an essential part of this
process. These different data parameters are used when setting up optimal price points and
rules for regulating these dynamic prices, and several different ones were mentioned that
they found important. With e-commerce constantly developing these new parameters will
play a large role according to the respondents. Respondent #2 describes how with the
amounts of data and the unique characteristics of the data; they can deliver fast services to
their customers and can adjust prices in real-time in their dynamic price system.

13
 “…to be the correct price based on stock rotation, number of clicks on a product, the
competitor’s price, and whether the competitor has it in stock. If these parameters change,
then we can adjust our customers' prices. We can set any price rules we want in our
systems, based on the data we receive.”- Respondent #2

Respondent #2 mentions several parameters as well as the fact that they can set practically
any price rules from the parameters, as long as they receive the necessary data.
Respondent #1 explains how you can connect different parameters to the strength of the
brand and how this is such an important parameter to consider, since consumers often chose
brands they know, even if the price is slightly higher. This type of data is also important for
DynamicX.

“We can modulate revenue and volume in other ways, and add parameters that are
much sharper, you can connect these to the strength of the brand. If you look at three
prices for a product and one is a bit cheaper, but you have never heard of it, then you
will probably buy the one that is a bit more expensive, since you know that brand” –
Respondent #1

Respondent #2 also talked about consumer data from loyalty programs and how it is used to
a certain degree to see how much consumers are spending, and behaviors connected to these
purchases. However, there are limitations for the utilization and innovative services, since it
is a sensitive subject and there are regulations that are stalling this process.

“I can see that, based on the access we get from our customers, if the consumer is a
member of a loyalty program, then we can see how much a certain consumer usually
spends, as well as behaviors. So, if we would get more access to the companies we work
with, we could look more at individual and more personalized pricing, but we are not
quite there yet. It is a sensitive subject; we are not allowed to track certain things” –
Respondent #2

Respondent #5 describes how he and the company he works for has used DynamicX service
in practice, where they could see that the balance of a product was low at a competitor
through their dynamic pricing system and acted upon this information with benefits in sales.

“Something that they (DynamicX) are very good at is availability, in those cases where
it’s possible to view, and that is something that I’ve used diligently and seen good results
from…for example, we could see the balance of a product was low at a competitor and
we could have a sale on that specific product” – Respondent #5

Respondent #5 continues by describing how they captured the opportunity by starting a sale
on that specific product and the competitor followed them on their sale. This resulted in that
the competitor ran out of stock and the company respondent #5 worked at gained new
customers. This is an example of how retailers in e-commerce can use these AI & data-driven
tools to directly compete with competitors in the same market.

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 “…This company then followed us and also put up the product on sale, which caused
their product to be sold out which resulted in us getting new customers” – Respondent
#5

Respondent #3 describes how tools such as Google Trend are suitable for quantifying a
product or a brand's reputation, and even though it is hard to pinpoint the exact value, it is
still a useful tool.

“You could use AI for this. For example, you can use google trends, to see how popular a
product is, you would get a measurement, even though it might not be exact, it is
something to go on…we are working with many parameters and there is uncertainty in
all of them on some level” – Respondent #3

When the respondents were asked about environmental parameters and if it is trendy there
were few affirmative answers, respondent #3 argued that it is more controlled by the market,
rather than DynamicX themselves.

” I haven’t noticed that much, we have discussed it, but it’s more controlled by the market
rather than us.” – Respondent #3

4.4 Value-co creation

The interviewees were asked how they interact with the companies they work with to further
develop their products. Respondent #3 shares that since DynamicX is a smaller firm they
value feedback from the customers, but also point to the importance of working proactively.
The respondents overall had a positive relationship with the companies they work with and
expressed how important feedback and data sharing are. They also mentioned that the view
of the organizations that DynamicX works with has changed and the respondents argue that
many more organizations within e-commerce have started working with these types of data-
driven systems.

”Since we have been quite a small firm, we listen to our customers' input and try to take
the best from their inputs, but now we’re also trying to work a bit more proactively with
our services and products.” – Respondent #3

When asking whether DynamicX customers demand and interest in new types of services
and a higher level of data-driven automated services, respondent #4 mentions that it has
been positive.

“I think that we have got really good feedback from our customers in these new services
and a small part of this has been because of Covid-19, where e-commerce has become
more of a primary focus in our customers.” – Respondent #4

15
When asking about data sharing between DynamicX and the companies they work with
respondent #3 expresses that it is a sensitive subject. Much of the data they receive or would
like to look at are secret, so factors like trust are very important for them.

“It is a sensitive subject; we are trying to find ways to solve it. With sales numbers,
pricing and price strategy, these factors are often secretive, so we try to build trust with
our customers.” – Respondent #3

“When I started working with DynamicX, it was more focus on Prisjakt and Pricerunner
and those types of sites, but it has shifted more towards our customers wanting to
compare prices against more specific websites and stores… now these price agents are
more of a complement to these specific sites.” – Respondent #3

Respondent #3 explains how DynamicX has changed their data sources from looking at sites
where consumers could compare prices, to the organizations they work with demanding data
from specific websites and competitors.
The programmer explains how the organizations they work with have developed as well,
describing a shift from DynamicX acting more as a support role in their customers' decisions,
to be more involved with their customers and implementing automatical pricing and
assisting in price strategies with their data-driven and artificial intelligence services.

”The trend is that you could say that last couple of years our customers have been
starting to talk to us about this. Before we mostly compiled a basis and support for our
customers and the customer has made their own price strategy decisions, but now we’re
moving into automatical pricing, they are asking more on how to price their products.”
– Respondent #3

Respondent #3 continues that stating how the customers are asking for more advanced,
automatic services, with the development of e-commerce.

”Now that we’ve begun to have these automatical services, I’ve noticed that the
customers are asking more and more about it, they preferably want as much as possible
to be automatic” - Respondent #3

5. Discussion
In the following part of the study, the empirical finding, as well as the theoretical research,
will be discussed, compared, and analyzed. The discussion has been presented in terms of the
past, the present, and the future of dynamic pricing and e-commerce.

5.1 The past

As the research from the literature explains, the concept of dynamic pricing services has been
around since the 1970s where the airline industry utilized this pricing system for their flights
but gained little traction in other industries. However, with the rise of Uber with their surge

16
pricing model, and as some of the respondents describe with the popularity of price
comparing sites such as Prisjakt and Pricerunner becoming popular sites for consumers to
find new companies to buy products as well as comparing prices, the concept of dynamic
pricing has seen a growth in popularity. When DynamicX started in 2006 they explain how
they mostly supplied their customers with reports of competitors and e-commerce branches,
and not much was automated in their systems yet.
As for the data used by DynamicX in the early days, much of the data was gathered from
the aforementioned sites, such as Prisjakt and Pricerunner, which were then processed into the
reports and the services supplied to the customers. DynamicX purpose was therefore a more
supportive and passive role to their customers, compiling a basis and supporting the
organizations, all while the organizations created their pricing strategy and the concept of
dynamic pricing was rare. As e-commerce was not as huge of an industry and phenomenon as
it is today and there was more focus on local competitors rather than global ones, this strategy
with the data they could obtain was enough. Similarly, was their value co-creation process
with their customers, as stated, they were acting in a supportive matter, because of early
developments in the industry, causing DynamicX to work reactively. This has however
changed in the last years and in the present, they are a much more involved actor in the e-
commerce ecosystem and the development of dynamic pricing systems.

5.1 The present

With the huge advancements being made in the last couple of years and since DynamicX
started in 2006, a lot has changed in e-commerce. The market itself has become more
globalized, where for example relatively small actors in Sweden must compete with large,
global organizations such as Amazon. This is partly because of what Joseph (2018) argues,
that customers can more easily locate and identify different products online, due to an easier
searching process in comparison to traditional shopping. While price comparing sites may
have helped this process, the consumers are also more aware and mature regarding e-
commerce.
While having a fair and correct price point has always been important, and still is, both
Laudon & Travel (2016), as well as some of the respondents, mention that since prices on
products have become more equal and more homogenized, other elements of achieving
competitive advantage may arise. As Laudon & Travel (2016) writes, competitive advantage
is one of the eight elements of a successful e-commerce business model. The authors write
that having the superior product or having the cheapest price is two ways of achieving this,
however, many of the respondents highlight other means of achieving this, such as having a
strong brand reputation, offering personalized services and offers, or having better customer
support. As the results suggest, these types of parameters are becoming more important
when the concept of dynamic pricing is becoming more widely used. Just as dynamic pricing
is heavily reliant on data, so are these other parameters, with examples such as personalized
services, which often require data on the customers to create relevant offers and services.
These different parameters are heavily data-driven in both e-commerce, but many of the
respondents mention this as well. Some of the respondents point to factors other than
pricing, such as brand strength, brand loyalty, customers treatment, and service as crucial

17
parameters that consumers view when deciding on a product or a company. This may be a
direct result of dynamic pricing becoming more popular, as well as the e-commerce field
becoming more global in nature.
Not only have the necessary data, but also knowing how to transform this data into useful
parameters for organizations in e-commerce is growing in importance and echoes what Marr
(2015) states about value from data. The respondents point to this fact more than once,
suggesting that the usage of data by converting it into a value is important. This is not only
critical externally, towards their customers, but also internally so they can keep developing
their systems and services internally and is a key factor in today's e-commerce ecosystem.
According to the respondents, this data is also very important in terms of their AI
development, and while some respondents’ opinions are more on the cautious side, they
agree that data is crucial for this development. As some of the respondents mentioned in the
interviews; automatization and AI-driven solutions, coupled with the large amounts of data
available, have enabled organizations in the e-commerce industry to develop new systems
and act quicker on the information available. From the results, the respondents seem to have
mixed opinions on technologies and systems related to artificial intelligence, similarly to
what Brynjolfsson & McAfee (2017) express about what tasks to give to machines. The
respondents from DynamicX seem to share the authors' views that these systems should act
as a support to the organization, rather than giving all tasks to a machine, at least right now.
What can be automated within e-commerce and setting up different types of price rules
seems like an effective strategy, coupled with the fact that some decisions are still crucial for
a human to make, but assisted with the data available, showcasing how data is used in the e-
commerce ecosystem in present time.
As Brynjolfsson & McAfee (2017) argue, is that it is very important to select the right tasks
for artificial intelligence to solve and let the employees focus on what they do best. Many of
the respondents mention that the roles of product manager and price strategist have been
greatly improved in the last few years. Since these roles have access to much more data and
more advanced AI-based systems that can assist them in making sure the price points are
correct and can be more easily modified depending on the context and situation. This is a
major shift from earlier years in e-commerce, where data were used more shallowly, and AI
did not exist to the same degree.
Respondents #3 and #4 mention that there is a higher expectancy as well as demand for
technologies such as artificial intelligence from organizations they work with, and the need
for data to be able to gain competitive advantages towards competitors. This can be correlated
to the fact that Amazon is on its way to the Swedish market, and as mentioned earlier,
Amazon is utilizing artificial intelligence and big data to a high degree to provide useful
services and competitive advantages.

5.1 The future

Joseph (2018) also mentions the fact that e-commerce has the advantage of adjusting prices
of products quicker and with a higher level of flexibility, which several of the respondents
mentioned as a key factor in a successful business and gave real examples of how that can be
done. One of the key points from this is the fact that with the data available and how,

18
amongst others, DynamicX’s tools can assist organizations to easier to decide on a precise
price depending on other the market and other parameters, but also the speed upon which
they can act on. This coupled with the fact that price strategists and other similar roles within
an organization can keep track of a much higher percentage of their product base, has
resulted in a big change for e-commerce and will most likely only continue to grow in
importance. These two factors, real-time adjustments, and precision are something that will
be important in the future according to the respondents and is a reasonable take because of
globalization and the rapid development within the e-commerce ecosystem.
With more and more organizations leaning towards dynamic pricing IT systems in their
organizations, the importance of these tools may also rise since it will become harder to
compete with pricing if competitors are using more advanced pricing systems and more
developed strategies. Prices may have to be corrected on a day-to-day basis and during
certain periods during the year, such as certain holidays, this demand increases. Having
updated and correct data regarding your prices as well as your competitors are crucial.
Paradoxically, given if everyone uses some sort of dynamic pricing system, other parameters
and unique selling points will grow, such as brand strength, customer service, and
personalized services and offers. During the interviews with the respondents, the topic of
new parameters to consider when setting up prices for products was discussed. One notable
is the factor of being environmentally friendly. This could point to having eco-friendly
shipping, creating products that have not been animal tested, or having unethical laboring
conditions. Most of the respondents found this interesting and had started looking into these
parameters. However, they also stated that this type of change needs to come from the
companies that have online stores, not from DynamicX. It is also a consumer-driven
question since there needs to be a demand for these parameters for it to have value. This
could be an important feature in the future, which would give organizations a greater value
proposition as Laudon & Travel (2016) explains. This could for example come in the form of
choosing more eco-friendly shipping or visualizing and informing customers to a higher
degree about the product and its environmental impact.
Laudon & Travel (2016) also talks a great deal about how value proposition has changed
when moving from traditional shopping to online retailing. With features such as
personalized shopping and customizations of product offerings being more prominent. Some
of the respondents seem to agree with the authors, stating that having different types of
bundles offers based on previous shopping and personal data being more and more popular.
In these types of parameters, data regarding customers is also needed. However, this type of
data could be harder to generate due to its nature. This data generation could be gathered
through e-commerce organizations conducting for examples surveys for their customer base
in order to find out how important these parameters are, as well as if they would be willing to
pay more for more eco-friendly or more ethical product testing. As stated previously, these
existing parameters may become more important in the e-commerce ecosystem, and new
parameters which will influence the industry might also become more important.
DynamicX and its employees often mention data in the interviews as a central and crucial
part of their strategy and organization. However, as Marr (2015) states, simply having access
to data is rarely enough, organisations need to utilize it to create more optimized systems

19
and making better business decisions. The respondents seem to share Marr’s (2015) views on
how important the fifth V, value, is in today’s competitive landscape and the tools that enable
it. The respondents from DynamicX do not only note the importance of data mining from
online stores, but also the data sharing between them and the companies they work with. As
stated much of the data DynamicX would find incredibly useful can also be classed as
organizational secrets, such as pricing strategies, and that it is a sensitive subject that
requires trust from both parties. The companies they work with do however express a desire
for more automated and data-driven services and products, which suggest what the future
might entail. From the result and the related research presented, these sorts of value creation
operations are becoming more important and more frequent, at the same time as the
respondents describe how the organizations, they are collaborating with are trusting each
other more, and therefore can share more data and further develop efficient dynamic pricing
systems.
Respondents #3 and #5 mentioned some concerns about artificial intelligence. Although
respondent #3 does not doubt the usefulness of artificial intelligence, he expresses that it is a
trend, and he believes some organizations have misguided views on the technology. Similar
to what Brynjolfsson & McAfee (2017) state about artificial intelligence, that it has generated
many unrealistic expectations, with business plans and visions being sprinkled with terms
such as “AI-powered”, does not magically make it efficient. Respondent #5 also shares the
same beliefs and having doubts about black box solutions and believes there is more ground
to cover before artificial intelligence becomes necessary. As presented, the future of e-
commerce and dynamic pricing is an exciting field, with more actors entering the industry
and the technologies becoming more advanced.

6. Conclusion
The study began with the collection of theoretical data in form of mainly peer-reviewed
articles and course books, as well as empirical data in form of interviews with DynamicX
employees and one person within e-commerce who has used their services. With the chosen
methodology being a qualitative study and empirical data collection was semi-structured
interviews, it allowed for greater flexibility when conducting the interviews. The interviews
proved to be very valuable as the respondents had great insights and knowledge about the e-
commerce industry and development, the concept of dynamic pricing, as well as interesting
opinions and insights regarding the value creation process through data and technologies
such as artificial intelligence. DynamicX was a great organization to collaborate within this
study since they have a unique perspective in the e-commerce ecosystem, having been in the
branch since 2006 and since they help other organizations succeed with their e-commerce
and pricing strategies with the use of data. Secondary data was also collected in form of
documents and PowerPoint presentations provided by DynamicX. This, coupled with the
theoretical data, allowing for a solid current understanding of e-commerce and dynamic
pricing, and how this concept can develop in the future. The result from the interviews
showed that the respondents had a good grasp on the industry and current trends, they also
gave valuable thoughts on what the future development of e-commerce could imply.

20
 In the study, this research question was formulated:

• How can dynamic pricing services be delivered in e-commerce ecosystems?

E-commerce has seen a large transformation and development in the past decade and the
theoretical and empirical data suggest that it will continue developing in the future with
more and more features being of higher importance and influencing consumers shopping
patterns and decisions. Organizations have more room than ever to gain competitive
advantages through dynamic pricing, however, this might, in turn, lead to other parameters
growing in importance to gain an edge over competitors.
Even though pricing and pricing strategy will remain important, it is not the only
parameters to consider. With more and more organizations starting online stores, either on
their own or as a complement to their physical stores, and e-commerce becoming more
global, the fact that more companies are existing in the same marketplace is true.
Considering these facts, the use of dynamic pricing systems, with technologies such as
artificial intelligence and data backing these systems up, is more necessary to succeed in the
future of this industry. With e-commerce becoming a much more global industry, and
organizations having more competitors, dynamic pricing systems, value co-creation with
actors in the ecosystem, and utilizing data will only rise in importance.
Further studies in this area could include more empirical data and interviews from e-
commerce organizations, investigating what their views on these topics are. Being able to
interview for example price strategists to extract their opinion and views regarding the
concept of dynamic pricing, the challenges, and problems they face, would further solidify
the claims, and would create greater insights. Since most of the respondents were from
DynamicX and they are at the forefront of developing dynamic pricing systems based on data
and AI to assist pricing strategies through these systems, the study would get a fuller picture
of the industry if other parties were interviewed and involved. This would further lessen the
current gap in the research topics of dynamic pricing in the e-commerce ecosystem.

21
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