Walmart customers angered over new pricing change

It’s simple: Whenever I have the time, I hit different supermarkets to make sure I’m getting every item at the lowest possible price. Tracking discounts has been a part of my normal routine for more than a decade.

When I’m rushed, I must do all my shopping at one store but still look for the best value. Recent industry statistics and trends reveal I am not alone.

In fact, 47% of global consumers, including 35% belonging to high-income households, are now classified as “value seekers,” or people who regularly sacrifice convenience for better deals,  according to Deloitte 2026 Consumer Products Industry Global Outlook.

With the index of food at home rising 2.4% over the 12 months ending in February, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumers are changing strategies to afford basic necessities.

• Private labels: Consumers are increasingly shifting toward private labels.

• Intentionality: 45% of consumers now make strict shopping lists before entering a store, and 37% compare prices between brands before deciding.

• Bulk buying: There has been a 4% increase in shoppers choosing larger “value sizes” to lower the cost per ounce.
  Sources: NielsenIQ October 2025 report, NielsenIQ 2026 Consumer Outlook

As consumers become more creative to deal with the current economic climate, retail giants such as Walmart are making changes of their own, some of which have shoppers worried.

Walmart was recently awarded patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for AI tools that help set pricing across its e-commerce platforms, reported Gizmodo.

One of those patents, US-1254776-B2, contains systems and methods for dynamically and automatically updating item prices across e-commerce platforms.

“When price elasticity data and predicted demand data for the item are both available, a first markdown price is generated for the item using a first model based on: the price elasticity data, the predicted demand data, and the current price,” reads the patent description.

When the price elasticity data and predicted demand data aren’t available, it creates a “bounded price” that allows for a range to be chosen to set a new price on the platform.

The second patent recently granted to Walmart, US-12572954-B2, relies on machine learning to predict the demand of various items and recommend prices. “The schematic in the filing even shows that third-party data may be used to help determine the price, a controversial practice when it’s employed by other businesses like airlines to set fares,” writes Gizmodo.

News of Walmart’s new patents is gaining attention across social media as consumers raise concerns about dynamic pricing and surveillance pricing, especially after the retailer just implemented Digital Shelf Labels (DSLs) across its stores.

Walmart revealed March 2 that roughly 2,300 Walmart U.S. locations are already using electronic screens instead of traditional paper price tags, and that this technology should be chain-wide within the next year.

“For our associates, that expansion can’t come soon enough,” Walmart shared in a press release.

While Walmart says the goal of the new technology is to help employees, retail expert and TheStreet Co-Editor-in-Chief Daniel Kline recently reported that experts and customers are questioning potential hidden motives behind the move.

“News of Walmart’s rollout… stirred up concerns that DSLs will lead to dynamic or surge pricing, where retailers or other businesses quickly change the cost of products or services based on fluctuations in demand due to weather or traffic — or even using personal data like location, browsing history, and purchase patterns to set individualized prices,” according to RetailWire.

Currently, dynamic pricing and surveillance pricing are the subject of major nationwide debates involving the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Congress, and several state legislatures.

Dynamic pricing is the practice of adjusting prices in real time or over short intervals based on external factors such as supply and demand, inventory levels, time of day, user behavior, or market conditions, according to Vorys.

Surveillance pricing is even more complex as it involves using consumer data, including location, history, internet browsing history, or demographic information to form individualized prices for goods and services, according to King & Spalding.

Government officials are moving to ban surveillance pricing, with lawmakers saying it’s predatory and discriminatory. On the other hand, retailers argue that a ban could eliminate loyalty discounts.

In February 2026, U.S. senators introduced the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act, which bans “corporations from leveraging new technologies to increase grocery prices for Americans.”

While early bans failed in some states, New York now requires stores to disclose if they use AI to price items, and several other states, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, are currently pushing for total bans, according to King & Spalding.

The news about Walmart’s DSLs and patents quickly spread across the internet, with consumers raising concerns about potential dynamic pricing. The overall sentiment on the recent Reddit thread discussing the news is strongly negative, distrustful, and fearful.

Customers are worried Walmart changes will lead to:

“Dynamic pricing needs to be straight up illegal immediately. Nip this s**t in the bud,” wrote user DataCassette.

Some users, like Tasty-Traffic-680, suggest the possibility of exploiting customers amid a crisis. “Just waiting for someone to ‘accidentally’ dynamically price something like bottled water during an emergency,” they wrote.

Others raised concerns about potential individual-level price discrimination, suggesting that apps on our phones are already collecting enough data to allow retailers to tweak prices.

A number of users suggest consumers should simply stop shopping at Walmart altogether and take their business to competitors like Costco.

“Looks like I will be dynamically changing where I buy groceries once this goes into effect,” wrote user Informal-Sense8809.

Once a retailer loses customers’ trust, it is hard to regain. I explored this in my coverage of Target’s attempts to win back consumer loyalty after years of weak sales and controversy-fueled boycotts.

When Walmart unveiled its digital shelf labels, it also denied plans to use the technology for dynamic pricing.

“Prices are the same for all customers in any given store and are consistent regardless of demand, time of day, or who is shopping,” according to Walmart’s statement.

The retailer’s official reason for DLSs is improving efficiency, since changing paper tags by hand takes hours or even days. This way, the company claims, employees will be free to spend more time with customers and organize shelves.

More Retail:

Regarding patent concerns, Walmart told the Financial Times that electronic tags are “unrelated to dynamic pricing.” The retailer also suggested that one of the patents at issue “was specific to markdowns,” wrote Gizmodo.

Markdowns are usually made to clear inventory and end-of-season items.

Retail expert Carol Spieckerman notes that while Walmart’s claims of efficiency may be true now, the technology itself has no built-in limits.

“Here’s the reality: There are no technical safeguards preventing surge pricing or other forms of price manipulation. The capability exists. But two things can be true at once. The multifaceted efficiency arguments are also easy to make and genuinely valid,” Spieckerman wrote on RetailWire.

Other experts suggest that the shift is a purely operational win that will benefit both workers and shoppers.

Ademola Oyefeso, vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, previously said digital labeling is not unfamiliar to consumers.

“If you’ve ever ridden in a ride share vehicle, where you’re out at a baseball game, and the baseball game ends, you search and you try to leave, there’s a surge pricing on it. So this technology will allow grocery stores to do the same thing,” said Oyefeso, as reported by Buffalo Toronto Public Media.

With Walmart enjoying a 13-point lead over other stores when it comes to value, per a March 2026 YouGov report, it’s hard to imagine it would risk losing this position and the hard-earned trust of its consumers.

“Dynamic pricing or anything that smells like it is playing with fire,” Matt Hamory, a grocery industry consultant at AlixPartners, told the Financial Times. “There is an element of consumer trust being eroded because they don’t know that they’re getting the best price at any moment.”

Related: Lowe’s makes major change to how you interact with its stores

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Mar 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the Retail section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.