Whatever the item, people don’t want to pay surge pricing for it

The Ipsos Consumer Tracker asks Americans questions about culture, the economy and the forces that shape our lives. Here's one thing we learned this week.

Why we asked: While ride-share and other sectors have charged more during peak times for a while, the idea of “surge pricing” has started to spill into other industries. How willing are people to pay those prices?

What we found: For the most part, we’re not that into the idea. Only about one in three supported paying more across the five categories we asked. 

But, and this is a big but, the younger 18-34 cohort was much more willing. Like, a majority in each category more. The older 55+ cohort was in the single digits. 

Partially, that’s going to be related to those who are in the market for these items, like concert tickets. Similarly, lower-income Americans were more willing to pay more for fast food. Partially, it could also be that younger Americans are just more used to this from ridesharing, etc. So if this is something your brand is thinking about, it probably begs some more consideration and, dare we say, research.

More insights from this wave of the Ipsos Consumer Tracker:

We’re trending more social in our NCAA hoops plans

The Ipsos Care-o-Meter: What does America know about vs. what does America care about?