Walmart, Target, and Kroger are changing how they price groceries — here's what you need to know

Some of the biggest grocery chains in the US are changing the way they price their products. According to a report from Mashed, retailers are using technology to make grocery price changes faster and more easier than ever before. However, this does not mean that tech is being used only to raise the prices. Here's how some of the best-known grocery chains — such as Walmart, Target, and Kroger — are channeling tech to price their items.

Walmart

Walmart is among the biggest users of automated pricing technology. According to a 2026 analysis by pricing-data company Decodo, Walmart made nearly 70,000 price changes over the course of the survey. The report also found that more than 50 percent of those price changes were decreases.


On Reddit, users are claiming that they are seeing vastly different prices for the same product. But Walmart insists that its price changes are normal fluctuations and not based on personal information of customers. "We don't set different prices based on who you are or the time of day, and we won't," Walmart CEO John Furner had said in a September press release.

Target

The Decodo report found that Target changed prices nearly 40,000 times during the survey period. But Target's price changes are different from Walmart's in several ways.

For instance, most of the price changes occurred on Saturdays, likely to adjust for higher weekend traffic. But that does not necessarily mean that items were more expensive on weekends.

Also unlike Walmart, Target accepts that it uses personal data to alter prices. The app provides the following disclaimer in places where it is legally mandated: "This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data."

Besides, in 2019, a KARE 11 investigation found that in Minneapolis, customers saw higher prices in the app if they were standing inside the store compared to when they were outside of it.

Kroger

Kroger has denied ever using surge pricing. But the grocery chain is developing an extensive customer-tracking system that integrates with its shelf price tags.

The technology is called Enhanced Display for Grocery Environment or EDGE. It uses cameras and Bluetooth to display certain ads and offers to customers based on their buying history and even shopping lists stored on their devices. Concerns have been raised that the tech may eventually be used to tailor product prices.