Walmart is trying to get ahead of a trust problem it created for itself. In a letter to customers, CEO John Furner said the retailer will not change prices based on personal information or the time of day, addressing fears stirred by its plan to roll out digital shelf labels to every US store by the end of the year.
“Your income, shopping history, urgency or what we think you could pay won't change the price,” Furner wrote. “And whether you're buying groceries or electronics on a hot afternoon or in a sudden rush for an item, it's never a reason to charge you more.” He added that Walmart would not use conversations with Sparky, its AI shopping assistant, to set prices either.
Electronic shelf labels are not new, and retailers argue they cut the time staff spend on paper tags. But the technology's ability to reprice a whole aisle in seconds is exactly what makes regulators uneasy about “dynamic” or personalised pricing — charging different customers different amounts for the same item based on data about them.
The policy environment is tightening. The Federal Trade Commission is working on rules to curb personalised pricing, New York now requires retailers to disclose algorithmic pricing, and New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland have moved to bar stores from using customers' personal data to change prices.
Walmart's promise is voluntary, and its wording is specific: it covers personal data, demand and time of day. It does not, on its face, forswear the ordinary promotional and clearance pricing that faster labelling enables. That gap — between what a company pledges and what the technology permits — is likely to be where the next round of scrutiny lands.
