Walmart CEO John Furner wants to clear the air about how the retail giant is using new pricing technology.
“We don’t set different prices based on who you are or the time of day, and we won’t,” he said in a memo to employees and customers on Friday.
Furner said he was responding to questions he’s received this year about how the company is implementing new digital shelf labels and the AI-powered shopping assistant, Sparky.
“When you engage with Sparky, that’s an invitation to serve you better not to use your personal information to set a personalized price,” he said. “We’ve never used the relationships our associates have with customers to charge more, and we won’t do that with AI.”
Furner also said that any form of personalized pricing would violate the company’s decades-long commitment to being an everyday low-price retailer.
“We price the product, not the person,” Furner said.
Walmart and its competitors have faced growing public scrutiny over the rollout of both online shopping assistants and in-store digital tech that critics say could be used to selectively hike prices on individual customers.
The company has said its focus on using the tech is to improve the efficiency of its stores and deliver a better shopping experience for customers.
Read the full memo from Walmart CEO John Furner:
To our customers and members, For more than 50 years, our pricing principle has been Every Day Low Prices (EDLP): low, consistent prices you can count on without guessing whether Monday or Tuesday is the better day to shop or wondering if someone else is getting a better price than you. Prices can change. We lower them when we can pass savings along. Sometimes they rise because an item costs more to buy or transport. But using someone’s income, shopping history or moment of need to charge them more would violate the EDLP promise our business model is built on. We won’t do it. 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. So, as technology improves, we’re putting the same attention on trust and serving you as we do when you walk into our stores and clubs. I’ve heard concerns about companies using that information and technology to charge you more. 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. Our associates would much rather be helping you, our customers. AI has added incredible new ways for us to serve our customers and members, and it rightfully also raises questions about the information it has access to. Understanding our customers and members is what makes us special and allows us to better serve them. For years, that has taken place in our stores and clubs as we help each customer with their individual needs. We want to offer that same level of personalized care when our customers shop online with Sparky, our 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. With that in mind, I want to share three commitments you can count on as technology changes:
- We don’t set different prices based on who you are or the time of day, and we won’t. 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.
- We’ll hold our shopping tools to the same promise. We won’t use the information you share with us on Sparky or otherwise to raise your price or hide lower-priced options that meet your needs.
- We’ll continue to use your information responsibly and respect your choices. You decide whether to share additional details for more personalized help. We’ll continue to be clear about how we use that information, protect it and honor the choices you make. When you do share, we will focus that data on ways that better serve you.
Our people will continue to oversee pricing, and we’ll monitor and test our technology against these commitments. Thank you for trusting us with part of your family’s budget. If there’s one thing I hope you take from this note, it’s how much we value the trust you place in us. Technology will keep changing. Our responsibility to earn your trust and help you save money and live better won’t. John Furner President and CEO, Walmart Inc.
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