Walmart Denies Plans for Surveillance Pricing Despite Holding Patents for Surveillance Pricing

Key Points:

• Lindsay Owens, a leading expert on surveillance pricing and author of "Gouged: The End of a Fair Price," has raised concerns about Walmart's patents for dynamic pricing technologies that could enable personalized price adjustments based on customers' shopping behavior.
• Owens highlighted Walmart's 2018 patent for electronic shelf labels that can change prices in real-time depending on items in a customer's cart, such as offering different prices for mayonnaise if tuna is already selected.
• Walmart vehemently denies plans to use these technologies for surveillance pricing or dynamic price hikes, with EVP Dan Bartlett stating that having a patent does not equate to deploying or intending to deploy the technology.
• Bartlett criticized Owens for allegedly mischaracterizing Walmart's intentions and urged her to correct the record, emphasizing that Walmart does not currently use or plan to use such pricing strategies.
• The debate underscores broader concerns about the future of pricing transparency and consumer fairness, with experts warning about potential abuses despite corporate denials.