Walmart's CEO Signs a Pledge to "Price the Product, Not the Person," Covering Its Sparky AI Assistant, but the Letter Only Addresses Price Increases

Walmart CEO John Furner published an open letter to customers and Sam's Club members on the company's website on September 25, summed up in one line: "We price the product, not the person." The letter makes three commitments: Walmart will not set different prices based on who a customer is or the time of day, and income, shopping history, urgency or what the company thinks a customer can afford will not affect prices; it will not use information customers share through its AI shopping assistant Sparky or otherwise to raise their price or hide lower-priced options that meet their needs; and it will continue to use customer information responsibly and respect customers' choices. The letter adds that people will continue to oversee pricing and that the company will monitor and test its technology against these commitments; it notes that prices can still rise when an item costs more to buy or transport. On the electronic shelf labels spreading through its stores, Furner said they keep shelf prices matching what rings up at checkout and save associates from replacing paper tags by hand. The backdrop is growing scrutiny of "surveillance pricing": the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sought comment on a proposed enforcement policy statement on personalized pricing, and states including Illinois and Minnesota are pursuing legislation. Fortune reported on September 22 on concerns raised by two Walmart pricing patents and noted that Walmart's privacy notice says customer information may be used to tailor ads, product recommendations and promotions. The letter does not say whether individually targeted promotions and discounts fall under the pledge.

Why a retailer's letter is an AI story

The selling point of an AI shopping assistant is that it knows you: you tell it your budget, how many people are in your household and what you need urgently this week, and it picks for you. That is also the problem. **The more you tell it, the better it could, in theory, estimate what you are willing to pay.** Furner's letter addresses that worry head-on. He writes that engaging with Sparky is an invitation for Walmart to serve customers better, not to use their personal information to set a personalized price, and that the company has never used its associates' relationships with customers to charge more and won't do so with AI. The electronic shelf labels are included because they let prices be changed quickly from a central system, which is exactly the technical precondition behind fears of dynamic pricing.

What gives this one weight is the signature

"We don't price by person" is not a new position. In Fortune's September 22 report, a Walmart spokesperson already said the company doesn't charge different prices based on a customer's personal information, purchase intent or history. **What's different this time is that the CEO signed it, as an open letter to all customers, with enforcement language attached: people oversee pricing and the technology is tested continuously.** The timing is not accidental either. The FTC has been seeking comment on an enforcement policy statement on personalized pricing, under which using personal data to estimate how much an individual will pay, without disclosure, could be an unfair or deceptive practice; several states are legislating as well. For a retailer whose brand is "everyday low prices," spelling out the boundary now is both a message to customers and a way of defining its own practices ahead of regulators.

What the letter leaves out

Read commitment by commitment, the pledges all point one way: **no raising prices, no hiding cheaper options.** What the letter doesn't address is the other direction: whether individually targeted coupons and promotions count as personalized pricing. That is not nitpicking. Walmart's privacy notice says customers' purchase history and browsing and search activity may be used to tailor ads, product recommendations and promotions. For a shopper, "someone else got a discount and you didn't" and "your price was raised" can produce the same gap at checkout. The FTC's proposal lists a similar scenario as potential deception: a shopper believes a personalized price is a discount based on purchase history when it is actually a higher price based on other data about them. The letter also doesn't say whether these commitments bind the prices third-party sellers set on Walmart.com.

What this means for readers

For teams building AI shopping assistants or recommendation systems, the letter is a ready-made template of commitments: shared information isn't used to raise prices, cheaper options aren't hidden, people stay in the loop, and the technology is tested continuously. For consumers, it is a public pledge that can be checked; the real test is whether independent tests later compare the prices different accounts see. Limits of what is known: the commitments described here follow the text of Walmart's open letter; the letter does not disclose its specific testing or audit methods, and no outside party has been named to verify them.

via: Walmart CEO's open letter, Fortune on Walmart's pricing patents, Fortune on the FTC personalized-pricing proposal, The Shelby Report