The announcement of the highly anticipated Oasis reunion tour saw fans flock to Ticketmaster on the 31st August 2024. However, after hours sat in Ticketmaster’s never-ending queue, many fans were met with prices that had dramatically increase from what was originally advertised. Beyond Corporate’s Georgia Hargreaves looks at whether Liam and Noel Gallagher fell short of dynamic pricing regulations and offers her tips for businesses looking to protect themselves and stay compliant with consumer law.
Shortly after the release of Oasis Live ‘25 tickets, fans expressed their frustrations over social media, with hundreds of complaints being made to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over misleading pricing.
This practice, referred to as ‘dynamic pricing’, involves adjusting prices as demand changes and is commonly used by airlines as well as holiday and taxi companies. While dynamic pricing is not illegal, it is vital that businesses ensure consumers are not misled, as doing so risks breaching consumer law.
Customers were given a price for tickets, and it was not clear that this price was likely to increase dramatically until they reached the front of the queue, giving diehard Oasis fans seconds to decide whether to purchase a £358 standing ticket, when adverts had stated prices would be from circa £150. Ticketmaster have confirmed that the price was higher due to tickets being ‘in demand’. An important factor in determining whether consumer law is infringed is whether consumers have been misled by the indicated price and material information has been omitted or hidden by Ticketmaster.
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 offers guidance on what constitutes unfair commercial practice. A commercial practice is a misleading action if it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to make a decision they would not have otherwise made. In the case of the Oasis tickets, many customers made the decision not to buy tickets due to the spike in pricing or were forced to spend triple what they had expected. A mere scroll through X (formerly Twitter) makes it clear that this has left a sour taste in the mouth of many fans, arguably damaging the reputation of both Ticketmaster and Oasis.
Tips for businesses
As the world of e-commerce and technology continues to grow and evolve, it is vital that businesses adapt their abilities to deal with dynamic pricing to ensure that consumer law is not breached, and customer trust is not lost:
When implementing dynamic pricing, businesses need to
- Manage the expectations of customers and maintain transparent pricing, ensure clear warning is provided if prices are subject to change and increase.
- If prices are likely to fluctuate, offer guidance in the form of an upper and lower limit, in the case of the Oasis tickets, only a ‘from’ price was stated, which failed to manage customers’ expectations of how much prices may increase.
- Ensure all non-optional charges such as VAT and booking fees are included. If this information cannot be included due to consumer circumstances, marketing communications should make it clear this it is excluded and state how it is calculated.
- Aim to gain a full understanding of the market price perception of its customers.
- Avoid fluctuating prices too dramatically and purely for the sake of it, so to avoid confusing customers.
- Ensure that all communications are aligned with the same information and pricing (whether that be on the website or social media channels).
What can happen if businesses fall foul?
If the ASA find that a party is in breach of the ASA CAP Code, the ASA may issue rulings calling out such breach. The CMA can take action against any parties in breach, legislation has been proposed which will provide the CMA with greater scope of enforcement, including the ability to impose a 10% fine of global turnover of companies who breach consumer law.
If you are seeking to utilise dynamic pricing, it is vital to ensure pricing is clear and consider how customers may be misled due to the way in which dynamic pricing is implemented into the business. Taking such steps will hopefully ensure that your customers don’t look back in anger.
If you’re looking to use dynamic pricing or are seeking advice on this area, please contact hello@beyondcorporate.co.uk
