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shopping1d ago
Instacart’s AI pricing experiment drives up costs for some shoppers, study says
- Latest finding: Instacart AI pricing experiments created price differences for identical items among shoppers, per the Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative investigation.
- Some price gaps reached as high as 23% between shoppers buying the same items at the same time.
- A study claimed a family could unknowingly pay about $1,200 more annually due to these pricing discrepancies.
- Instacart described the tests as short-term, randomized, and designed to reflect consumer preferences for retailers.
- Retailers involved include Albertsons, Costco, Kroger, Safeway, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Target.
- Target storefront tests have ended, and Instacart said pricing tests are ongoing with different cost offsets.
- Instacart asserts that pricing is not based on personal or behavioral traits, but on randomized variations.
- Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative orchestrated multi-retailer shopping sessions to compare prices.
- Instacart claimed pricing tests involve only a subset of its 10 retail partners and focus on understanding consumer preferences.
- The study underscores broader concerns about grocery affordability amid rising prices.
- The investigation followed a period of examining Instacart’s acquisition strategy and pricing strategies.
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