DETROIT – Do you ever wonder, when you shop, how does that particular store use technology to track you, to set prices, to determine shopping patterns? In this high-tech digital age, it makes sense that stores may track this information—the question is, what do they do with that information, and is your personal info safe? It’s something I’m sure you have thought about as well.
Recently, Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib, in a letter to Kroger’s CEO, said, “We’ve found big retailers with little regional competition can extract large profits simply by adjusting prices of essential goods like food items. My concern is that these tools will be abused in the pursuit of profit, surging prices on essential goods in areas with fewer and fewer grocery stores.”
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Tlaib also raised concerns about facial recognition technology in Kroger stores and how it could be used to change pricing based on location.
Kroger denies some of these allegations saying in part:
“Kroger’s business model is built on a foundation of lowering prices to attract more customers. Everything we do is designed to support this strategy, and customers are shopping more with Kroger now than ever because we are fighting inflation and providing great value. To be clear, Kroger does not and has never engaged in ‘surge pricing.’ Any test of electronic shelf tags is designed to lower prices for more customers where it matters most. To suggest otherwise is not true.”
I asked Erin Rolfes from Kroger Corporate Media Relations the following questions:
Does Kroger currently use facial recognition technology in any way, and if so, how?
“Kroger does not – nor have we ever – used facial recognition technology. In 2019, we launched a small and short-lived pilot of EDGE technology with Microsoft (original releasehere). This technology did use cameras to attempt to predict a customer’s age and gender to serve an ad to them at the shelf, however no personal biometric data was ever retained or stored with this program. This technology was sunset during the pandemic."
When are prices set or adjusted within Kroger stores?
“The current limited ESL pilot is similar technology to what a shopper would find in Asia or Europe, and are very similar to this Reddit post about Walmart. These tags are being used to change prices on our ad break days – typically Wednesdays. We hope the technology will help us save billions of pieces of paper that currently are used for shelf tags and free our associates up to spend time serving customers instead of changing tags on a shelf."
Is my personal information safe with Kroger?
“I can unequivocally say that your personal information is safe with Kroger – data protection is a key component to growing our business. We never sell customer data nor do we share identifiable customer data with any third-party.”
Today, I’m out there talking with our viewers about how this could impact you. What do you think about technology being used in this manner at any store?
Stay tuned as our coverage begins at 4 p.m.