Reading: Matching Headings: Question 4

A For most of the twentieth century, a shopper could expect the price on a supermarket shelf or a train ticket to stay fixed for weeks or months at a time, changing only for occasional seasonal sales. That expectation has been quietly overturned by dynamic pricing: software that recalculates a price continuously, sometimes minute by minute, most visibly on ride-hailing apps and airline booking sites where the fare shown can differ from one refresh of the screen to the next.

B Behind the scenes, a pricing algorithm draws on a stream of live data (how many drivers or seats are currently available, how many customers are searching at that moment, competitors' prices, even local weather or a nearby event that might spike demand) and recalculates a price intended to balance supply against demand in something close to real time, rather than the days or weeks a human pricing team would need to respond to the same shift.

C Economists broadly supportive of the practice argue that letting prices rise when demand is high performs a genuinely useful function: a higher fare during a sudden downpour, for instance, is thought to draw more drivers onto the road, while the alternative, a fixed price that cannot rise, would simply leave many would-be passengers unable to find a ride at all, so the resource goes to whoever is both available and willing to pay.

D That argument carries little weight with a customer who finds a fare has multiplied several times over during a transit strike or a severe storm, precisely the moments when travel feels least optional. Consumer groups argue that steep surge multipliers at such times amount to taking advantage of people with no real alternative, and that a price which changes without an obvious explanation feels arbitrary even when a company insists it reflects real supply constraints.

E Facing sustained criticism, several major platforms have introduced caps limiting how many times a base fare can multiply during a declared local emergency, along with clearer on-screen explanations of why a price has risen, and options to be notified once a lower fare becomes available rather than being forced to accept or reject the current one immediately.

F The technique is no longer confined to travel booking. Electricity providers in a growing number of countries now offer tariffs that vary by the hour depending on grid demand, ticket sellers apply similar logic to concerts and sports fixtures as an event date approaches, and some grocery retailers adjust discounts on fresh produce automatically as a use-by date nears, extending a model first associated with ride-hailing into everyday household spending.

The passage has six paragraphs, A–F.

List of Headings i. The data driving a price calculated in real time ii. Comparing dynamic pricing across the airline and hotel industries iii. From fixed prices to prices that update continuously iv. Governments moving to outlaw dynamic pricing altogether v. The efficiency argument in favour of letting prices rise vi. Anger at price rises during moments of crisis vii. How competing firms share pricing data with each other viii. Measures introduced to soften the impact on customers ix. Extending real-time pricing from travel into everyday purchases

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

Paragraph A Paragraph B Paragraph C Paragraph D Paragraph E Paragraph F