Walmart Denies Plans for Surveillance Pricing via Shelf Labels

Walmart publicly denied that its patents for sales-maximizing technologies would be used for surveillance pricing, with company executive Dan Bartlett asking Lindsay Owens to correct what he called mischaracterizations. Bartlett published a statement on X asking Owens, head of the Groundwork Collaborative, to set the record straight.

The denial follows Owens' report titled 'The Walmart Watchtower: Patents Speak Louder Than Pledges,' released on Oct. 5. Owens is CEO and president of the Groundwork Collaborative, a left-leaning economic policy group.

In a separate written work, 'Gouged: The End of a Fair Price—and What That Means for Your Wallet,' Owens has addressed consumer pricing broadly. She testified to Congress in August about U.S. consumers getting gouged.

Patent and Shelf-Label Background

Walmart submitted a patent application in 2018 for a 'System and method for remote controlling of electronic shelf labels,' which the USPTO granted in 2023. The retailer has since rolled out electronic shelf labels nationally, according to Gizmodo. Owens previously told the outlet in an interview last month about Walmart's patent for changing prices through shelf labels.

The practice of dynamic pricing has drawn scrutiny before: Coca-Cola experimented with raising prices on hot days in the 1990s, drawing public outrage.