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Consumer Apprehension Grows as US Retailers Adopt AI-Assisted Pricing Tools
Retailers say AI helps set prices and update shelf labels, while consumer advocates warn that 41% of surveyed business leaders already use AI to gather market intelligence.
- The Federal Trade Commission proposed an enforcement policy warning businesses that failing to disclose personal data usage for individualized pricing could violate consumer protection law as digital labels spread to Walmart and Whole Foods.
- Terms like "dynamic pricing" and "surveillance pricing" are stirring anxiety on social media, where users wonder if retailers customize prices based on location or web-browsing habits rather than transparent criteria.
- A Simon-Kucher survey of more than 2,200 business leaders found 41% used AI software to gather market intelligence, while 28% utilized it for "real-time price optimization" to adjust prices based on supply and demand.
- Legislators in at least 30 states have considered pricing bills this year addressing algorithmic practices, following an FTC staff report identifying intermediaries offering pricing tools to at least 250 clients including grocery and clothing retailers.
- Amazon faces a trial next year regarding its algorithmic tool Project Nessie, which the FTC alleged generated more than $1 billion in excess profits, while a consumer lawsuit against McDonald alleged its system uses nonpublic sales data.
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US consumers wary as retailers adopt AI-assisted pricing tools
Washington, Oct. 18 (SANA) US consumers are increasingly concerned about how restaurant chains and major retailers set prices, as digital price tags and artificial intelligence tools become more widespread, raising questions about transparency, personal data and the possibility of different customers paying different prices for the same products. Electronic shelf labels are gradually replacing paper tags in grocery stores, while AI-powered syste…
·Syrian Arab Republic (the)
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While consumers are angry about high-tech ways to set prices, a study of dynamic pricing found half the U.S. changes it recorded were decreases
“There are major tensions happening right now between who’s really going to have the power with some of these algorithms and usage of bots and AI: the companies or the shopper.”
·New York, United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources71
Leaning Left26Leaning Right9Center33Last UpdatedBias Distribution49% Center
Bias Distribution
- 49% of the sources are Center
49% Center
L 38%
C 49%
13%
Factuality
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