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

by

Emma Roth

Sep 28, 2026, 4:44 PM UTC

Photo by Marcin Golba/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Emma Roth

is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.

Walmart says it won’t change product prices based on your personal information or the time of day, asreported earlier byThe Wall Street Journal. Ina 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 announcedplans to roll out digital shelf labelsin 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 isworking on a policy to clamp down on personalized pricing, while individual states are imposing rules of their own.New York now requiresretailers to disclose when they’re using algorithmic pricing, whileNew Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland moved to ban storesfrom using customers’ personal data to change prices as well.

Follow topics and authors

from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.

  • Emma Roth

Most Popular

Most Popular

  1. The smart home graveyard is getting crowded
  2. Googlebooks might be the real deal
  3. Bose’s first wired earbuds in 11 years add noise canceling
  4. OpenAI agents tried to ‘bruteforce’ a UN website
  5. Why OLPC’s $100 laptop never stood a chance
Advertiser Content From

This is the title for the native ad