Walmart doubles down on everyday low prices as FTC closes comments on personalized pricing policy

Despite fears of inflation and price gouging—and President Trump’s recent positive comments about inflation that it could help “very rapidly” pay down the national debt—Walmart is signaling that prices are moving in one direction: down.

Last Sunday, Walmart CEO John Furner wrote a letter to customers doubling down on the company’s commitment to “Every Day Low Prices (EDLP),” and denying it will engage in personalized pricing through its new electronic shelf labels.

“Prices can change,” he wrote. “We lower them when we can pass savings along. Sometimes they rise because an item costs more to buy or transport. But 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. We won’t do it.”

The letter came on the same day the Federal Trade Commission closed comments on a proposed enforcement policy that would target personalized pricing practices qualifying as deceptive under the current law.

In a public comment, the National Retail Federation denied that personal data is leading to price increases, noting that “retailers operate in an intensely competitive marketplace in which consumers can readily compare prices and shop among competing sellers.”

The trade group also commented that “personalized discounts are not personalized pricing,” pointing toward what has become an industry sticking point with laws aimed at regulating emerging pricing practices.

The comment noted that retailers “routinely use consumer information to provide discounts, coupons, rewards, loyalty benefits, targeted promotions, and other benefits that save consumers money.” NRF is now requesting these practices be excluded from the agency’s definition of personalized pricing.

What the federal government does with this feedback remains to be seen, but the policy statement does acknowledge that there is still much to learn about the issue: “The extent to which businesses currently use personalized pricing is not well understood, and the effects of personalized pricing on consumers are unclear.”