A new investigation by Groundwork Collaborative, Consumer Reports and affiliated researchers found that Instacart may be charging different customers different prices for the same grocery products — even when they shop at the same store, buy the same items, and place orders at the same time.
What the Study Found
- In an experiment involving 437 shoppers across multiple U.S. cities, nearly 74% of items tested were listed at multiple prices simultaneously on Instacart.
- Some identical products carried as many as five different prices in the same store. For example, a dozen eggs at one Safeway store ranged between $3.99 and $4.79.
- For full shopping carts, consumers sometimes paid about 7% more than others for the exact same items. Over time, that could mean as much as $1,200 extra per year for an average family — if consistently exposed to price variation.
Instacart’s Response — and Ongoing Questions
Instacart does not deny the pricing differences. It says that what’s happening is not “dynamic pricing” per se, but rather limited “price tests” with roughly 10 retail partners who “already apply markups.”
The company claims these tests help retailers gauge consumer preferences — and that staples (like milk or bread) are less likely to be part of the markup experiments.
However, critics argue that such opaque pricing undermines transparency and fairness. As described by Groundwork Collaborative, these practices reflect a larger trend of algorithm‑driven pricing strategies that shift the burden of price discovery onto unsuspecting consumers.
Why it Matters Today
In a time when grocery affordability is under intense pressure, hidden price variation disrupts budgeting and erodes trust. Platforms using AI or algorithmic tools to “test” or personalize prices risk creating unequal pricing — even among shoppers in identical circumstances.
As dynamic pricing and algorithmic price optimization become more common, the debate over fairness in digital retail is now frontline.
