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A recent study<\/a> published by Consumer Reports (CR) alleges that Instacart has been conducting AI-led dynamic pricing experiments that, in some cases, are drastically inflating the cost of certain products.<\/p>\n CR and its research partner, Groundwork Collaborative, found that the delivery app was conducting these experiments at the platform\u2019s retail partner locations \u2014 places like Kroger, Albertsons, Costco, and Safeway. In some cases, consumers were paying as much as 23% more than other shoppers for the exact same product, the report says.<\/p>\n The software involved in the experiments, Eversight, is a SaaS product that offers grocers<\/a> a retail pricing suite designed to \u201cunlock revenue growth\u201d and capitalize on \u201cpricing solutions that scale your pricing strategy and uncover optimal prices your customers expect.\u201d Instacart discloses on its Eversight page that some shoppers \u201cmay see slightly higher prices\u201d than others.<\/p>\n However, as previously noted, some of those price hikes seem slightly higher than \u201cslightly higher.\u201d A 23% price hike isn\u2019t exactly chump change.<\/p>\n When reached for comment, Instacart referred TechCrunch to a previously released statement<\/a> in which the company noted that \u201cjust as retailers have long tested prices in physical stores to understand what resonates with customers, a small subset of our retail partners \u2013 10 U.S. retail partners that already choose to apply markups \u2013 use Instacart\u2019s Eversight technology to run limited online pricing tests.\u201d\u00a0The company also took issue with its activity being referred to as \u201cdynamic pricing,\u201d calling it instead an \u201cAI-enabled pricing experiment.\u201d An Instacart spokesperson said: \u201cThese tests are not dynamic pricing\u00a0\u2013\u00a0prices never change in real-time, including in response to supply and demand.\u00a0The tests are never based on personal or behavioral characteristics \u2014 they are completely randomized.\u201d<\/p>\n Dynamic pricing has become increasingly common in recent years, and many big e-commerce sites have been accused of employing it. Another recent report<\/a> claimed that, due to dynamic pricing used by Amazon, school districts across the U.S. have been paying higher prices for basic school supplies. Amazon has since called the report<\/a> \u201cflawed and misleading.\u201d<\/p>\n This story has been updated with an additional statement from Instacart. <\/em><\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span>
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