Datasparq blog post on optimal control now online

I’ve written a blog post for Datasparq on how I used optimal control and MPC to design an automated price optimisation algorithm. The solution also made use of layering as optimisation decomposition, a nice callback to reading carried out during my doctoral research over ten years ago!

The post can be found here.

Dynamic pricing isn’t rocket science… but it can look similar

How did a Soviet engineer inspire a recent Datasparq dynamic pricing product?

As dynamic pricers and revenue managers, we might unthinkingly use metaphors like launching a product; using deep discounts to turbo-charge demand; or we could apply the brakes with a price increase. Demand could drop like a stone, or maybe it’s just undergoing some turbulence.

Sometimes, though, it pays to be a literal-minded Data Scientist. Could we double down on this metaphor, and think about how engineering science–rocket science!–could apply to the yield management problem?

It turns out that yes, we can, as recent work on an ancillaries pricing product showed us.

See more here!