正文
How companies use AI to set prices
公司如何利用 AI 定价
Many American shopkeepers hew to manufacturers' recommended prices. A growing number, though, resort to more sophisticated pricing techniques.
许多美国的店主(在定价的时候)仍遵循着制造商建议零售价。不过,越来越多的店主开始采用更为复杂精密的定价方式。
Retailers have historically used rules of thumb, such as adding a fixed margin on top of costs or matching what competitors charge.
零售商过去一直采取经验法则,比如,在成本的基础上增加固定的利润率,或者向竞争对手的收费看齐。
To gain an edge, shopkeepers have been turning to price-optimisation systems.
为了占据优势,店主们正在转向“价格优化系统”。
These predict how customers will respond to different pricing scenarios, and recommend those that maximise sales or profits. At their core are mathematical models that use oodles of transaction data to estimate price elasticities — how much demand increases as the price falls and vice versa — for thousands of products.*** Price-sensitive items can then be discounted and price-insensitive ones marked up.
这些系统能预测顾客对不同定价方案的反应,并且能推荐使销量或者利润最大化的方案。价格优化系统的核心是数学模型,这些模型会针对成千上万种产品,使用大量交易数据来估计“价格弹性”——当价格下降时,需求量会增加多少;反之亦然。然后,对价格敏感商品可以打折,对价格不敏感商品可以提价。
These systems are becoming cleverer thanks to advances in artificial intelligence (AI). Whereas older models used historical sales data to estimate price elasticities for individual items, the latest crop of AI-powered ones can spot patterns and relationships between multiple items.
由于人工智能(AI)的进步,这些系统正在变得越来越聪明。旧的模型只能使用历史销售数据对单种商品的价格弹性进行估算,而最新一批由 AI 驱动的系统能够发现多种商品之间联动的模式和关系。
Price-optimisation may make prices more volatile. "Retailers are pricing faster today than they ever have before," says Matt Pavich of Revionics, a pricing-software firm.
价格优化可能会让价格波动更为频繁。“现如今,零售商定价比以往任何时候都要快”,定价软件公司 Revionics 的员工马特·帕维奇说道。
What pricing systems do not do is leading inexorably to higher prices. Sysco, a big food distributor which rolled out new pricing software last year, is a case in point.
但是定价系统所做的并不是让价格总是往上走。去年推出新定价软件的食物经销商 Sysco,就是一个例子。
The firm says the system allows it to lower prices on "key value items" — as price-sensitive bestsellers are known in the trade — and raise them on other products.*** It can thus increase profits by expanding sales while maintaining margins. That keeps investors content and shoppers sweet.
这家公司说,这个系统能让他们降低“关键价值商品”的价格——在贸易中价格敏感的畅销品被称为“关键价值商品”——同时提高其他商品的价格。由此,这家公司可以在维持利润率不变的情况下扩大销量,从而增加盈利。这样既让(公司)投资人满意,又让消费者开心。
主编:乐乐、Nancy
品控:XP
审核:Lucky
重点词汇
hew to
(北美)坚持、遵循
搭配短语:hew to a tradition
相关词汇:hew(v. (用斧头)砍、劈)
例句:The statues were hewn out of solid rock.
resort to
求助于,采取(某种方法)
近义词:turn to
sophisticated
/səˈfɪstɪkeɪtɪd/
adj. 精密的,复杂的(因此能完成更复杂任务)
英文释义:intelligent or complex and therefore able to do complicated tasks
rules of thumb
经验法则,拇指法则
经验法则指的是“凭借经验做事情”。
据说早期有经验的木工工人,会用拇指当尺子,来测量木材的尺寸,后来“拇指法则”就用来代指“凭借经验做事情”的“经验法则”。经验法则渗透在生活的方方面面。比如,按照经验,赶飞机要提前两个小时到机场。As a rule of thumb, you should get to the airport two hours early.。
margin
/ˈmɑːr.dʒɪn/
n. 利润;利润率;边缘,边界;页面的空白页;余地
同义词:profit margin
搭配短语:a gross margin of 45%
on top of
在……的基础上
例句:On top of all his financial problems, his wife left him.
搭配短语:on top of the world(幸福到极点)
edge
/edʒ/
n. 优势,占上风;边缘
近义词:margin
搭配短语:gain an edge(占据优势)
optimisation
/ˌɑptəmɪˈzeʃən/ /ɑːp.tə.maɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/
n. 优化、完善
相关词汇:optimise(v. 使完善)
搭配短语:to optimise the economic structure
scenario
/səˈner.i.oʊ/
n. 可能出现的情况,设想,方案
英文释义:a situation that could possibly happen
相关词汇:scene(n. 情景、景象)
近义词:plan
oodles of
大量、很多
近义词:a lot of
近义词:oodles of money
transaction
/trænˈzæk.ʃən/
n. 交易、买卖
词根词缀:trans-(转移)
例句:The bank charges for certain transactions.
price elasticity
价格弹性
文化拓展:价格弹性是个经济学概念,表示“需求与价格之间的关系”。比如:随着价格上升,需求会降低多少。
相关词汇:elasticity(n. 弹性)
相关词汇:elastic(adj. 有弹性的,有弹力的)
搭配短语:an elastic rope
vice versa
反过来也一样,反之亦然
例句:Should I come to your house or vice versa?
mark up
涨价,加价
例句:The umbrellas will be marked up during the wet season.
相关词汇:mark-up(n. 提价幅度)
例句:The retailer's mark-up is 50%.
advance
/ədˈvæns/
n. 进步
词性拓展:advance(v. 前进,尤其是军队前进;进步)
例句:The troops advanced on the capital.
例句:Our knowledge is advancing all the time.
a crop of
一群
相关词汇:crop(n. 一群;作物,庄稼)
搭配短语:next year's crop of undergraduates
AI-powered
/ˌeɪˈaɪˈ paʊ.ɚd/
adj. 由 AI 驱动的
相关词汇:power(v. 为(装置)提供动力)
搭配短语:powered by X company
volatile
/ˈvɑː.lə.t̬əl/ /ˈvɒlətaɪl/
adj. 易变的,动荡不定的;(物质)易挥发的;不稳定的;性情多变的
搭配短语:volatile liquid
搭配短语:a volatile political situation
inexorably
/ˌɪnˈek.sər.ə.bli/
adv. 不可抗拒地
例句:Spending on health is growing inexorably.
相关词汇:inexorable(adj. 不可阻止的)
英文释义:impossible to stop or prevent
distributor
/dɪˈstrɪb.jə.t̬ɚ/
n. 分销商,经销商
相关词汇:distribute(v. 分发;分销)
roll out
初次公开展出,(新产品)上市;铺开,展开
例句:The company will roll out its new product in May.
a case in point
一个相关的例子
英文释义:a relevant example
近义词:an example in point
content
/kənˈtent/
adj. 满足的,满意的
词性拓展:content(n. 内容)
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