Walmart CEO Rejects Personalized Pricing and Dynamic Rates

Industry Pulse News Desk · 2026-09-25

Walmart Chief Executive John Furner confirmed the retailer will not use artificial intelligence or digital shelf labels to charge personalized prices or vary rates by time of day.

Walmart will not use artificial intelligence or digital shelf tags to implement personalized pricing or alter product costs based on the time of day, Chief Executive Officer John Furner announced in a statement to employees and customers on Friday.

Furner stated that charging varying prices based on individual consumer data, household income, or shopping history would directly violate the retailer's long-standing business model of consistent pricing. "We price the product, not the person," Furner wrote, seeking to address public concern surrounding the rapid adoption of automated technology across the retail sector.

The executive's memo follows questions regarding the company's expanding rollout of electronic shelf labels and its conversational AI assistant, Sparky. Furner noted that the digital shelf labels are intended to maintain price consistency between store aisles and checkout registers while eliminating the labor-intensive process of manually replacing paper tags.

Regarding AI tools, Furner stated that customer interactions with digital assistants are designed solely to improve shopping efficiency and product discovery. He reassured consumers that personal data collected during digital interactions will not be leveraged to adjust prices for individual shoppers.

While product prices will continue to fluctuate based on broader economic factors such as supplier costs and transportation expenses, the company affirmed that all customers will see uniform pricing regardless of when or how they shop.