Walmart Pushes Back Against Dynamic Pricing Allegations

Walmart is doubling down on its pledge not to use AI, customer data or digital shelf labels to set personalized prices for its shoppers. In a public letter Monday, Dan Bartlett, Walmart's executive vice president of corporate affairs, challenged what he described as repeated "mischaracterizations" by Lindsay Owens, author of the recently released book "Gouged," about Walmart's pricing practices and use of technology. "The facts are straightforward. We price products, not people," Bartlett wrote.

Bartlett defended Walmart's use of digital shelf labels, saying the technology does not identify customers or independently set prices.

Total Retail's Take: Walmart is vigorously defending its pricing transparency as part of the company’s value proposition, a key selling point for today's value-conscious consumers. Walmart says it will not use income, shopping history, urgency, willingness to pay, time of day or information shared with its Sparky AI assistant to determine what an individual shopper pays. Walmart is increasingly using AI to personalize product discovery and recommendations, but it's drawing a clear boundary between personalizing the shopping experience and personalizing pricing. That distinction could help Walmart maintain consumer trust while still extracting substantial value from the technology.

For the broader retail industry, Walmart's rebuttal could make individualized AI pricing a much harder proposition to introduce. Fair or not, many consumers perceive individualized pricing as discriminatory or exploitative, with retailers leveraging select data points and special circumstances to drive up prices. The more sustainable AI pricing tactic may be using the technology to improve demand forecasting, markdowns, promotions and assortment decisions without setting different prices for individual customers. Personalize the experience, including recommendations and service, but be wary of personalized pricing.