Walmart recently promised not to use customers’ personal information to set prices while promoting digital price labels.
CEO John Furner stated in a public letter on Walmart’s website on September 25 that the company will not adjust prices based on customers’ income, shopping history, time of shopping, urgency, or perceived willingness to pay.
Furner mentioned that Walmart is introducing digital shelf labels to ensure that the prices on the shelves are accurate and consistent with what customers pay at the checkout. The company will not use this technology to hike prices based on customer identity or shopping timing.
He wrote, “Walmart will not set different prices based on a customer’s identity or timing of purchase, now or in the future.” Whether a customer buys groceries, electronics, or any item out of urgency on a hot afternoon, the company will not charge extra.
Furner also assured that Walmart will not use the AI shopping assistant Sparky to increase prices for certain items customers are inclined to buy, or hide lower-priced options that meet customer needs. He stated that adjusting prices based on personal information would go against Walmart’s core business model of “Everyday Low Prices.”
Furthermore, Walmart aims to lower prices when cost savings can be passed on to consumers, while sometimes prices may increase due to rising costs of procurement or transportation.
In March, Walmart mentioned that around 2,300 stores in the United States have implemented digital shelf labels, with plans to extend this technology to all stores nationwide within the next year.
The company emphasized that digital labels enable employees to update approved price changes through a central system, reducing the time needed for manual label changes. Price adjustments are usually made outside of business hours, ensuring that prices at a particular store remain consistent regardless of demand, time, or shopper identity.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stated on August 19 that personalized pricing involves companies using personal data to set prices according to their estimated individual consumer’s willingness to pay.
While current laws do not grant the FTC the authority to ban personalized pricing in all cases, companies may violate laws such as the Federal Trade Commission Act if they fail to disclose how they use personal data to set prices.
(Adapted from the report by the Associated Press)