PHOENIX (Consumer Reports) — Instacart shoppers may be paying very different prices for the exact same groceries — even when they live in the same neighborhood. A new Consumer Reports investigation found that the company has been running AI-assisted pricing experiments across several major grocery chains, and in some cases, the discrepancies were significant. Some shoppers saw prices that were as much as 23 percent higher for identical items.

Consumer Reports found evidence of these experiments at retailers including Costco, Kroger, Safeway, Sprouts, Albertsons, and Target. According to CR investigative reporter Derek Kravitz, every volunteer who participated in the nationwide test was part of a pricing experiment. Hundreds of shoppers were asked to buy the same items from the same store

See Full Page