According to a new study published by Consumer Reports (CR), instacart is accused of implementing flexible pricing testing based on artificial intelligence, in some cases causing product prices to increase significantly for a segment of consumers.
The CR, in collaboration with research organization Groundwork Collaborative, said that these tests were conducted at many instacart retail partners, including Kroger, Albertsons, Costco and Safeway. The results show that in some cases, consumers have to pay up to 23% more than other buyers for the same product.
The software used in the tests is Eversight, a SaaS platform that provides retail pricing tools for supermarket chains, the report says. On the Eversight website, instacart admitted that some shoppers may find the price slightly higher than others when participating in the tests.
However, CR believes that the recorded price difference is far beyond the concept of a little higher, when there are cases where the increase is up to more than 20%. The report emphasized that this is not a small increase for essential consumer goods.
Responding to the study, instacart cited a previously published statement, saying that online price testing is only applicable to a small group of retail partners. According to the company, 10 partners in the US voluntarily used Eversight technology to conduct limited price testing, similar to the way traditional retailers have tested prices at physical stores.
instacart also opposes calling the activity dynamic pricing. The company's spokesperson said that these are valuation tests supported by artificial intelligence, unchanged over time and unreactive to supply and demand. instacart says the tests are not based on individual characteristics or user behavior, but are randomly selected.
Flexible pricing is becoming more and more popular in e-commerce and has caused controversy among many large platforms. Previously, another report said that Amazon used flexible pricing, causing many school districts in the US to pay higher for basic learning materials. Amazon later dismissed the report, saying it was inadequate and misleading.
