What is Third degree price discrimination?

Third degree price discrimination refers to the strategy
adopted by sellers to offer different prices to different groups of buyers for the same
product or service.

The buyers in each group share some
common features. For example, they could be of the same nationality, same religion, same
sex, same age group, etc.

The difference between buyers in
different groups creates a price elasticity of demand that is unique. If a group of
buyers is found to reduce buying the amount of what the seller sells to a large extent
if the price is raised, they can be offered a lower price. For groups of buyers that are
not influenced that much by the price, it can be kept
higher.

Third degree price differentiation requires that
the seller has sufficient control over the market to be able to decide the prices that
have to be accepted by the buyers. The seller should also be able to identify groups
with distinct characteristics. The separate groups formed should not be able to transact
among themselves, else the group that is being charged a higher price would buy from the
group that is being charged a lower price.

Third degree
price discrimination is used primarily to use the difference in price elasticity of
demand of different buyers and boost revenue.