How your data determines what price you pay, and what this means for the average Kenyan Consumer
Have you ever logged online seeking to purchase a service or product, and notice a difference in price each time you revisit that website? Or tried booking a cab for a distance/route you routinely take and notice the price is never the same or always higher than the last time? (save for matatus). Very many times, the retailers hide behind various excuses like increased demand to justify these discrepancies. However, recent developments in technology and the law has unearthed a deeper, more hidden reason-Surveillance Pricing.
Surveillance Pricing is an emerging trend whereby online retailers are using personal and individual data to determine what prices you individually pay on a product or service. In effect, merchandise that the retailer buys at a fixed wholesale cost is sold to customers at different prices based on their data profile. Sounds wild? It gets even wilder.
How does Surveillance or Data Driven Pricing work?
Surveillance pricing is primarily dependent on intermediaries that collect detailed consumer or device data, such as Mastercard, Revionics, Bloomreach and Accenture. In Kenya, we have the M-Pesa Ecosystem, M-KOPA, Cellulant, Kopo Kopo, Nakala Analytics, Innowise and HData Systems just to name a few. Surveillance Pricing is further dependent on algorithms and with recent developments in the field, AI driven pricing tools such as Instacart’s Eversight.1
The type of data used includes, but is not limited to, browsing history, location, purchase history, mobile battery life, mouse movements on a webpage, unpurchased items in shopping carts, consumer behavior and income level, just to mention a few. In a Report by Reuters,2 it further emerged that travel companies may utilize surveillance pricing to deploy algorithms that determine a consumer’s emotional state, purchase intent and maximum willingness to pay, and that an individualized price is tailored accordingly.
Based off this data, online retailers then proceed to adjust prices in a manner that essentially reflects that if the consumer is willing to pay more, the price will be higher.
“There are clues consumers can use to tell when surveillance pricing might be at play. For example, if consumers notice fluctuating prices after repeated visits to a site, or different prices across different devices–or their peers are seeing different prices–those are all signs they are likely experiencing surveillance pricing influenced by personal or device data,”
–Michael Mezzatesta, economics and climate educator, and founder of Better Future Media.
What impact does Surveillance Pricing have on Consumers?
Consumers lose the ability to compare prices accurately because what they see may be tailored to their behaviour, location, income level, or even browsing history. Should someone be charged a higher price just because they live in a certain location, or because they made a ‘bad’ online purchase last year? Should a student in Juja pay more for the same data bundle than a CEO in Upper Hill just because an algorithm thinks they are ‘hooked’? Thanks to surveillance pricing, that’s the world we’re living in.
In America, research conducted by Consumer Reports in association with Groundwork Collaborative and More Perfect Union, found that customers could be charged up to 23% more for the same item ordered from the same store at the same time. Research experiments into Instacart’s algorithmic pricing found it was being used by some of the nation’s largest grocery stores, including Albertsons, Costco, Kroger, Safeway, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Target.3
The above constitutes what is coming to be known as Unfair Pricing. Consumers can not easily recognize when they are victims of surveillance pricing because it’s designed to be invisible.
Furthermore, current laws and regulations aim to protect consumers by promoting transparency and control over personal data. However, these laws do not fully address surveillance pricing, leaving gaps in consumer protection.
What Surveillance Pricing might mean for the Kenyan Consumer
For the everyday Kenyan, surveillance pricing means the end of the “standard price.” It transforms your smartphone from a tool for finding deals into a personal tracking device that tells retailers exactly how much you can afford to lose. If you’re booking a ride from a high-end neighbourhood, using a brand-new iPhone, or searching for a flight while your battery is at 5%, algorithms may flag you as “price-insensitive” and quietly hike the cost.
This creates a “digital tax” on your habits and location; two neighbours could sit at the same Java House, order the same item on a delivery app, and pay different prices simply because one has a more expensive browsing history. Ultimately, it strips away your power to bargain and turns your personal data, protected under the Data Protection Act,4 into a tool used to squeeze every possible shilling out of your wallet.
While we’re used to the ‘rainy day’ price hike in a Nganya, we don’t expect it from a cold, calculated algorithm that knows our bank balance.
How to Fight Back: A Consumer’s Defence Kit
While surveillance pricing is designed to be invisible, you don’t have to be a passive victim. Here are a few ways to reclaim your bargaining power:
- Go Incognito: Before making a final purchase or booking a flight, clear your cookies or use your browser’s Incognito/Private mode. This prevents sites from tracking your repeated visits to hike prices based on your “urgency.”
- The Two-Device Check: Always compare prices between a mobile app and a desktop browser. Algorithms often flag mobile users (especially those on high-end devices) differently than those on a laptop.
- Toggle Your Location: Since your GPS data is a primary driver for location-based pricing, try turning off location services for shopping apps or using a VPN to see if the price changes when the algorithm “thinks” you are elsewhere.
- Don’t Rush the “Checkout”: Sometimes, leaving an item in your cart for 24 hours can trigger a discount code instead of a price hike, as the algorithm switches from “squeezing” you to “luring” you back.
Notes & Sources
¹ Godoy, Jody. “Exclusive: FTC Probes Instacart’s AI Pricing Tool.” Reuters, 18 December 2025.
² Shepardson, David. “US House Committee Wants Travel Companies to Disclose AI Use for Pricing.” Reuters, 5 March 2026.
³ Danziger, Pamela N. “Algorithmic and Surveillance Pricing Pushes Retail Into Legal Minefield.” Forbes, 3 February 2026.
⁴ Section 25, the Data Protection Act, Cap 411C.