💰 Personalized Pricing: How Stores Use AI to Charge YOU More

Why is your price higher than the guy next to you? Welcome to personalized pricing—the retail future that feels more like surveillance than savings.

Major chains like Target, Walmart, and Kroger are testing dynamic pricing and digital signage. What starts as “prices changing with demand” is evolving into something much darker:
• Proximity Pricing: Prices spike when your phone pings near a store, assuming you’re ready to spend.
• App Inflation: Items cost more online when you’re close by, trapping you into higher prices.
• Illegal Gaps: Dollar General already got caught charging more at the register than on shelves. Now with digital screens, they can adjust before you even see the tag.
• Tracking Tech: Overhead cameras, phone pings, and third-party data build your shopper profile. Even your relationship status, location history, or spending habits can influence your “personalized” cost.

This isn’t theory—online retailers already do it. The physical store is just the next frontier.
Once the infrastructure is in place, the price you see may not be the price the person next to you sees.