Walmart won’t hike prices based on your shopping history, CEO says

Walmart CEO John Furner is pushing back on concerns that the retail giant could use digital shelf labels to employ dynamic pricing.

Walmart says it won’t change product prices based on your personal information or the time of day, as reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal . In a letter to customers , Walmart CEO John Furner writes that the company’s switch to digital shelf labels is meant to save store associates time, rather than dynamically change prices.

“Your income, shopping history, urgency or what we think you could pay won’t change the price,” Furner writes. “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.” Furner adds that it won’t use conversations with its Sparky AI assistant to change prices, either.

The reassurance comes months after Walmart announced plans to roll out digital shelf labels in all US stores by the end of the year. The decision sparked concerns about dynamic pricing, or when retailers change prices based on factors like product demand, competitor pricing, and customer preferences.

The Federal Trade Commission is working on a policy to clamp down on personalized pricing , while individual states are imposing rules of their own. New York now requires retailers to disclose when they’re using algorithmic pricing, while New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland moved to ban stores from using customers’ personal data to change prices as well.