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9h ago

Instacart’s AI Price Tests Show Different Prices for the Same Groceries, Report Finds

Instacart says a small set of retailers used randomized Eversight price experiments, not real-time dynamic pricing.

A new investigation by a group of consumer groups finds that Instacart is experimenting with prices, with some prices coming in 23% higher at the same store, same time and item.
An Instacart shopper in a grocery store in a file photo from Dec. 11, 2020.
A new report finds Instacart’s AI pricing experiments can show different prices for identical groceries, raising costs for many shoppers.
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Overview

  • Consumer Reports, Groundwork Collaborative and More Perfect Union coordinated tests with 437 shoppers in four cities and found differing prices for identical items from the same stores at the same time.
  • About 74–75% of items appeared at multiple price points, average gaps were roughly 13%, some reached 23%, and full baskets differed by about 7%—an estimated $1,200 a year for a typical family.
  • Price variation was observed on Instacart listings for major chains including Safeway/Albertsons, Target, Costco, Kroger and Sprouts, with researchers tying the experiments to Instacart’s 2022 acquisition, Eversight.
  • Instacart confirmed that about 10 retail partners ran short-term, randomized tests and said they are not real-time dynamic pricing and do not use personal, demographic or user-level behavioral data.
  • Instacart says it has ended pricing tests for Target and Costco as policymakers increase scrutiny, with New York requiring algorithmic-price disclosures and bills advancing in California, Colorado and Pennsylvania.