Personalized Pricing as a Form of Price Discrimination Based on Behavior in E-Commerce from the Perspective of Business Competition Law

Abstract

This chapter examines personalized pricing in e-commerce as a form of behavioral price discrimination and evaluates its implications for Indonesia’s business competition law. It argues that algorithm-driven personalized pricing, enabled by big data and consumer profiling, aligns with first-degree price discrimination and may create risks of behavioral exploitation that challenge the fairness principles as stipulated in Law Number 5 of 1999. Despite its economic justification as an efficient strategy, the practice potentially violates the prohibition against unjustified discriminatory pricing when consumers in similar circumstances receive different prices without objective grounds. Using a doctrinal legal method through statutory and conceptual analysis, the chapter is aimed to assess to what extent personalized pricing fits within existing legal norms and underscores the need for clearer regulatory guidance to address discriminatory algorithmic pricing in e-commerce.