US consumers back bans on AI grocery pricing and ESLs, poll finds

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union has released a poll from GBAO Strategies, showing bipartisan support in the US for banning surveillance pricing and electronic shelf labels (ESLs) in grocery stores.

This year, US states have stepped up efforts to curb surveillance pricing. Recently, Maryland became the first state to ban the practice in grocery stores. Last month, New York’s Senate passed the Protecting Consumers and Jobs from Discriminatory Pricing Act that would prohibit surveillance pricing and ESLs statewide.

According to UFCW, ESLs allow corporations to utilize AI and algorithms to set prices based on shoppers’ personal data, the weather, or a variety of factors.

Ademola Oyefeso, vice president at UFCW International, tells Packaging Insights: “ESLs bring predatory pricing practices into the grocery aisle, with their ability to change displayed prices at a moment’s notice and at scale. Unlike ride shares or flights, which have already faced allegations of surveillance pricing, food is a necessity, making use of this technology in grocery stores especially concerning.”

Strengthening consumer protection

According to the poll, 72% of US consumers do not have faith in grocery stores to use this technology responsibly. Oyefeso stresses that the only sure-fire way to prevent potential abuse is to ban electronic shelf labels and surveillance pricing in grocery stores.

“Earlier this year, retail giant Walmart, which controls 21% of grocery sales, announced it would outfit all of its stores with ESLs by the end of 2026 and secured two patents to use shoppers’ personal data to update prices at scale,” he shares.

Recently, Paul Lewellen, chief operating officer at Walmart of Mexico and Central America, said that ESLs are “a proven technology” in use on the global market for over two decades, adding that adoption is now accelerating at scale. Meanwhile, Vusion, a tech firm that develops ESLs for Walmart told us that the technology can “improve the shopping experience for millions of customers.”

Meanwhile, a study published last year, co-authored by an economist at the University of Texas at Austin, found no evidence linking ESLs to price increases and suggested the technology could benefit low-income consumers and help reduce food waste.

However, Oyefeso argues: “These patents aim to circumvent future regulations by emphasizing that a human executes price changes, rather than having AI set them. Whether it’s AI or a human that ultimately sets the price, the outcome is the same: exploiting consumers to maximize profit.”

In Europe, Solum, a spin-off from Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and Competera recently expanded their partnership to further connect AI-driven pricing intelligence with real-time ESL execution across European retail networks.