Oasis Reunion: when dynamic pricing hurts
It’s funny how dynamic pricing has evolved. A few years ago, it was an obscure strategy used by a select few businesses, mainly airlines. Now, as it becomes more common, people are starting to grasp what it means in their wallets, shifting the attention from revenue to fairness.
The Oasis reunion is making headlines these days, as it seems the only thing that could bring the Gallagher brothers together is money 🙂
Imagine you have not performed with your band for the past 20 years and you now have hundreds of thousands of fans, ready to buy a ticket for your show. What would be your first thought (especially if you’re one of the Gallagher brothers)? Yes, let’s try to squeeze some more money out of our fans!
And in the name of money, dynamic pricing was the brilliant idea that organizers of the Oasis reunion came up with, getting the “same ticket” sold between $150 and $400 depending basically on your place in the line. The later you arrive, the more you pay. Easy.
Now what I find funny in this story is:
✅ Dynamic pricing is becoming synonymous with revenue maximization, but its impact on perception is hugely underestimated. The result? An army of fans, completely outraged by the move. The production eventually had to announce 2 additional dates to “relax” the situation.
✅By the way, is dynamic pricing even a good idea when you have hundreds of thousands in line for tickets? Not necessairly! The demand alone will drive prices up naturally. If revenue maximization is the goal, price skimming could be more effective and feel less unfair to fans.
In other words, with so many people in line, if revenue maximization is the goal, why not sell all the tickets at $400, filling up the stadium, making things easier, and not being called unfair?
Now, Dynamic Pricing is nothing new; but this time even the politics is entering the debate, with the British government announcing worrying of “unfair pricing practices” and announcing to probe into dynamic pricing ( https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-government-probe-dynamic-pricing-after-oasis-tickets-surge-2024-09-02/ )
Our takeaway: Dynamic Pricing is still a powerful tool but is not a silver bullet. We always urge our clients to apply Pricing Models after having looked carefully at their Pricing Strategy. Some organizations are not only adopting dynamic pricing without fully considering the long-term effects on their reputation and fan loyalty… but also not considering the full picture from a pricing perspective. Not to mention that the gray market is another big issue, and nothing in this model is helping.
My name is Salva, I am a product exec and Senior Partner at Reasonable Product, a boutique Product Advisory Firm.
I write about product pricing, e-commerce/marketplaces, subscription models, and modern product organizations. I mainly engage and work in tech products, including SaaS, Marketplaces, and IoT (Hardware + Software).
My superpower is to move between ambiguity (as in creativity, innovation, opportunity, and ‘thinking out of the box’) and structure (as in ‘getting things done’ and getting real impact).
I am firmly convinced that you can help others only if you have lived the same challenges: I have been lucky enough to practice product leadership in companies of different sizes and with different product maturity. Doing product right is hard: I felt the pain myself and developed my methods to get to efficient product teams that produce meaningful work.