Walmart pushes back on pricing fears

Walmart CEO John Furner says the company won't use digital shelf labels to change prices based on personal information or time of day.

What Furner promised customers

Furner writes that income, shopping history, urgency, or what the company thinks customers could pay won't change prices. The company also won't use its Sparky AI assistant to adjust prices.

“Your income, shopping history, urgency or what we think you could pay won't change the price.”

Why Walmart is switching to digital labels

Walmart announced plans to roll out digital shelf labels in all US stores by the end of the year to save store associates time, not to dynamically change prices.

The dynamic pricing debate

The switch sparked concerns about dynamic pricing, where retailers change prices based on product demand, competitor pricing, and customer preferences.

Regulators moving to restrict pricing

The Federal Trade Commission is working on a policy to clamp down on personalized pricing. New York requires retailers to disclose algorithmic pricing, while New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland banned using customer data to change prices.