Walmart's CEO made three promises. Its AI won't price you by who you are.
Walmart president and chief executive John Furner put them in a letter to customers on 25 September.
"We price the product, not the person," he wrote.
"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," Furner wrote. EDLP stands for everyday low prices.
Walmart will not set different prices based on who a customer is or the time of day. Its AI assistant Sparky will not use what customers tell it to raise their price or hide cheaper options. Customers decide whether to share more details for more personal help.
He also defended digital shelf labels, which he said keep shelf and checkout prices the same and spare staff from changing paper tags. Walmart says the labels have no cameras or microphones, and do not use facial recognition.
The letter lands while the Federal Trade Commission has studied pricing based on personal data. Illinois, Minnesota and other states have introduced bills on it, The Shelby Report noted.
Any company putting an AI assistant in front of customers now has a written benchmark from the world's largest retailer.
Could your company prove that its own sales AI keeps all three promises?
Sources
Our file on Walmart
- 25 Sept
Walmart sold out a $4,299 Nvidia card. 10,000 shoppers had it in their carts.
- 21 Sept
Amazon's shopping bot may bury US-made goods, two senators told the FTC.
- 9 Sept
Asda's tech divorce from Walmart, including a new SAP system, cost £1.22bn.
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