Walmart is assuring customers it will not use personal data or AI to personalize prices.
In a letter published Friday, Walmart President and CEO John Furner reaffirmed the retail giant’s long-standing “Every Day Low Prices” strategy, saying the company prices “the product, not the person.”
“I’ve heard concerns about companies using that information and technology to charge you more,” Furner said. “I want to tell you where we stand: We price the product, not the person.”
Furner said prices may fluctuate when the cost of goods or transportation changes, but stressed that Walmart will not use a customer’s income, shopping history, urgency or other personal information to set prices.
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“We won’t do it,” Furner said. “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.”
Furner also addressed Walmart’s rollout of digital shelf labels, saying the technology is meant to improve price accuracy while reducing the amount of time that employees spend replacing paper tags.
“A shelf price should match what rings up at checkout. Digital shelf labels help us do that more consistently by displaying the right price,” he said. “They also save associates time replacing paper tags.”
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Furner added, “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.”
The CEO also detailed Walmart’s plans for artificial intelligence, including its AI shopping assistant, Sparky, noting that the tool is intended to deliver more personalized shopping assistance.
“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,” Furner said.
Walmart said it is making three commitments: it will not set different prices based on who a customer is or the time of day; it will not use information shared through Sparky to raise prices or hide lower-priced options; and it will continue giving customers control over how their personal information is used.
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“Our people will continue to oversee pricing, and we’ll monitor and test our technology against these commitments,” Furner said.
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“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.”
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