Walmart CEO speaks out on dynamic pricing: ‘We price the product, not the person’

Price check on Walmart.

Walmart president and CEO, John Furner, announced in a statement that the retail behemoth rejects any form of dynamic pricing, surveillance pricing or personalized pricing.

The chain has recently been accused of some form of all three, and it all started with the roll out of electronic shelf tags (ESLs) across thousands of stores. ESLs are small digital or e-paper displays attached to store shelves, showing product pricing and information instead of traditional paper tags.

Many stores — like Kroger and Walmart — have adopted them claiming it reduces paper, saves the company hours of labor and frees up workers to help shoppers with other tasks.

Dynamic pricing is where the price of products can change on the ESLs in real time based on factors like market demand, competitor actions or inventory levels. Surveillance pricing or personalized pricing is where personal personal data and algorithms are used to charge different prices for the same products depending on the individual. 

This has not sat well for shoppers, as both customers and critics fear the ESLs would allow stores to change prices in real time — from the time you picked the item up and took it to checkout, it could be different.

Furner’s statement however, claims the company will not use any of those methods. The CEO also made a pledge that its new technology is to help the employee and save customers cash.

“I want to tell you where we stand: We price the product, not the person,” Furner said in its statement on the company site.

The big boss broke down three company commitments as the new technology will likely keep launching in more stores. 

Furner explicitly promised not to set different prices based on “your income, shopping history, urgency or what we think you could pay won’t change the price.” 

“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 added.

The next promise is related to its shopping tools like Sparky — the agentic AI-powered shopping assistant. Furner pledged to never share the information shared with Sparky to raise or hide lower-priced options.

Lastly, the chief vowed to use your information “responsibly and respect your choices,” as the Bentonville-based chain will be transparent about what it is using your data for — or so it claims.

So why is Walmart making the sudden announcement — it’s been facing major accusations from shoppers and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In late 2026, the FTS issued a warning about personalized pricing after major retailers were facing scrutiny over the practice.

While the FTC cannot officially pan the pricing scheme, the agency said it would “enforce the law aggressively” and proposed requiring businesses to disclose if they engage in the deceptive pricing practice.

Shoppers had a lot to say once ESLs were implemented, as personalized pricing started to play on conspiracy fears. One user wrote on Facebook, “I heard that these have little cameras on them so that it will be face recognition too but that could just be a conspiracy but I do not doubt it’s true.”

The Post could not find evidence that was true.

Another said the price switch happened right before her eyes — but got a win in the end.

“I’ve fought the cashier (and won) before because I took a picture of the item right next to the price tag that matched up with the UPC number. The time on the photo proved it so they honored the original price.”