Walmart rejects personalised pricing as AI scrutiny grows in U.S. retail

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Walmart rejects personalised AI pricing

Highlights

Walmart CEO John Furner publicly pledges not to use AI or customer data to set different prices by shopper identity or timing across 4,600 U.S. stores.
Walmart reaffirms its electronic shelf labels and store app do not alter prices based on personal data, following scrutiny from regulators and bipartisan members of Congress.
Walmart received two patents for machine learning-based pricing tools in 2024 but denies plans for shopper-specific pricing amid increased FTC and legislative attention on AI-driven price practices.

Public pledge amid pricing debate

As reported by the Financial Times, Walmart chief executive John Furner says in a public letter on Friday that the retailer does not set different prices based on who a customer is or the time of day, and will not do so as AI tools spread across retail operations.

Furner says Walmart will not use its in-house AI shopping assistant in the store app or the electronic shelf labels being deployed across its 4,600 stores to alter prices according to a shopper’s identity. He adds that income, shopping history, urgency or assumptions about what a customer could pay will not affect the price of groceries, electronics or other products.

The company’s intervention comes as personalised pricing draws wider attention in the retail sector. Earlier this year, Walmart received two patents that would give machine learning and other automated processes a larger role in pricing, including a demand forecasting and price recommendation tool that envisages using inputs such as purchases, prices, payment methods and customer identification data.

Regulatory and political pressure rises

Walmart’s letter appears on the day public comments are due on a proposed U.S. Federal Trade Commission enforcement policy warning that businesses may be breaking the law if they do not tell consumers how personal data is used to set prices.

Pricing practices are also attracting bipartisan scrutiny in Washington as inflation keeps pressure on household budgets. In August, Republican senator Josh Hawley criticises what he calls ties between AI companies and large corporations, while Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House energy and commerce committee, sends letters to 25 companies, including Walmart, seeking details on pricing policies.

Electronic shelf labels have become part of that debate, with retailers arguing they reduce labour spent replacing paper labels and critics, including grocery workers’ unions, opposing the technology. Walmart reiterates that the labels do not contain cameras, microphones or facial recognition, and says all customers see the same shelf price regardless of weather, time of day or who is standing in front of the display.

In our earlier article, we covered Canada’s Competition Bureau planning to widen its review of the food supply chain by issuing a call for information focused on pricing policies in retail grocery. The step, tied to recommendations from the Bureau’s 2023 retail grocery market study, signaled that grocery pricing rules remain a live competition issue amid pressure from consumers, suppliers, and policymakers.

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