Walmart vows NEVER to use personalized 'surveillance' pricing

Walmart has vowed not to use customer data for personalized pricing after backlash against the new practice which uses AI to determine which customers are more willing to pay higher prices and then charging them accordingly. Consumers have not appreciate that.

The company assured customers it would not do so in a letter that was published on Friday by Walmart President and CEO Josh Furner. "I've heard concerns about companies using that information and technology to charge you more," Furner wrote. "I want to tell you where we stand: We price the product, not the person."

"Many of you have seen the digital shelf labels in our stores and some have asked why we have them. A shelf price should match what rings up at checkout. Digital shelf labels help us do that more consistently by displaying the right price. They also save associates time replacing paper tags. It may sound like an easy task – but as someone who has had to change those paper tags by hand over the years, I can tell you it’s a time-consuming and unrewarding task," he added.

He said that prices can fluctuate because of cost of good sold, transportation, but emphasized the shopping history, income of shoppes, or other personal data will not be used to determine prices.

"We won't do it," he added. "YOU are at the heart of our WHY and our relationship with you has always been built on trust. For decades, our associates have built that trust, one interaction at a time."

He said that even though Walmart will not be using AI to price items based on personal data, the technology has been used for "incredible new ways for us to serve our customers and members." Furner also said that commitment applies to their other shopping tools, such as Sparky, which is Walmart's AI shopping assistant.

"When you engage with Sparky, that’s an invitation to serve you better, not to use your personal information to set a personalized price. We’ve never used the relationships our associates have with customers to charge more, and we won’t do that with AI," he wrote.