News Summary

A study by Consumer Reports, in partnership with Groundwork Collaborative, has unveiled that Instacart is conducting dynamic pricing experiments that result in some customers paying up to 23% more for the same products. This pricing strategy is facilitated by Eversight, a SaaS product that offers grocers a retail pricing suite to optimize pricing strategies. The experiments are limited to 10 of Instacart’s retail partners, including Kroger and Safeway. Instacart confirmed the ongoing nature of these experiments, stating that they do not use personal or demographic data, but rather assign customers to different pricing cohorts based on product category and location. The revelation has raised concerns over AI-enabled pricing strategies that could significantly impact grocery bills for U.S. shoppers.