Walmart’s new pricing patents spark fears of surveillance: ‘Are they going to charge you a different price if they know who you are?’

Walmart has recently received patents for new technologies that could enable the company to automatically adjust pricing on its website based on predicted demand and customer shopping behavior. One system could change markdowns on its site, while another could predict demand and recommend prices. These patents have raised concerns among consumers about the possibility of personalized or surveillance pricing, where individuals are charged different prices for the same product based on information about them.

However, Walmart has stated that it does not currently use these systems and that prices for customers in a given store are uniform regardless of demand, time, or who is shopping. The patents describe systems that adjust prices at the item level rather than individual level, and have been compared to predictions made in economics classes.

Walmart collects purchase histories and information about customer browsing and searching on its website and app to tailor advertising and product recommendations, but has not been found to charge different prices based on personal information. The company argues that patents do not equate to actual use of a technology and that the filings are merely a means of protecting its intellectual property.