Walmart CEO Vows to Never Personalize Pricing
Retail giant promises to price the product, not the shopper.
WASHINGTON Sept. 29, 2026 – Walmart is not planning to use personalized pricing.
Walmart, a multinational company that annually makes over $700 billion in revenue, has since its founding in 1962 been committed to an Every Day Low Prices model.
Following concern over the amount of personal data big businesses collect, Walmart CEO John Furner reaffirmed this principle in his Sept. 25 letter among speculation the company would not stay true to these values.
“We price the product, not the person,” Furner said in response to concerns personalization will begin hurting customers.
In the past few years, personalized surveillance pricing has become a major issue. Just recently in August the Federal Trade Commission proposed businesses would have to transparently disclose their use of personalized pricing, and share what data is being used.
Walmart, however, claimed it will not use customer data, AI tools, or digital pricing systems to charge shoppers different amounts.
“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,” Furner said.
Furner further elaborated on the purpose of digital shelf labels, DSLs, after consumers were concerned it was being used to change prices in real time. He explained that these labels consistently display correct prices but are still reviewed by human associates.
“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. Associates, therefore, can prioritize more meaningful work like helping customers, rather than manually updating paper tags.
