By Jordan Valinsky, NCS
New York (NCS) — Online grocery supply service Instacart used AI to cost totally different prices for the same merchandise, as much as 20% extra for totally different consumers, a new report says.
An investigation from Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative revealed Tuesday that Instacart displayed totally different prices on the same family staples bought at well-known shops, together with Albertsons, Costco, Kroger, Safeway and Target. The report stated prospects are “unknowingly part of widespread AI-enabled experiments.”
“Corporate practices like these increase prices for American families. When prices are no longer transparent, shoppers can’t comparison-shop. When prices are no longer predictable, shoppers can’t properly budget,” the organizations stated in the report.
The report discovered that Instacart makes use of AI to gauge how “price sensitive” prospects are, which means how much grocery shops can cost for an merchandise earlier than the shopper decides to not buy it. That’s totally different from dynamic pricing, the place prices immediately change relying on provide and demand.
“That motive was confirmed by an email exchange between Instacart and Costco that was accidentally sent to (Consumer Reports) by Costco after we contacted the company for comment on our findings,” the report stated. (Costco didn’t instantly reply to NCS’s request remark.)
This report comes as Americans are feeling the pinch of upper grocery prices, that are are climbing partly due to tariffs, the immigration crackdown and excessive climate affecting meals provide.
Instacart was chosen as a result of it’s “by far the dominant e-commerce” grocery service, with greater than 250 million orders in the first three quarters of 2025, the organizations stated.
The study requested 437 members to purchase the precise same merchandise on the service and likewise examine to in-store prices. The investigation discovered that “every one of the volunteer shoppers who participated in our tests was subject to algorithmic price experiments.”
For instance, a dozen eggs bought on Instacart at a single Safeway location in Washington, DC, retailed any the place from $3.99 to $4.28, $4.59 and $4.79. In one other take a look at, pricing for a field of Safeway’s non-public label Corn Flakes ranged 23% between the lowest and highest prices — from $2.99 to $3.69.
In whole, consumers depending on Instacart might see “a cost swing of about $1,200 per year” due to the AI-powered technology the service makes use of, the report discovered.
Instacart stated in a remark to NCS that every retailer’s pricing coverage is displayed on their storefront on the firm’s app or web site so prospects can see the distinction between on-line and in-store prices. (Prices of merchandise bought on these apps are sometimes greater due to labor prices and different charges.)
“Just as retailers have long tested prices in their physical stores to better understand consumer preferences, a subset of only 10 retail partners — ones that already apply markups — do the same online via Instacart,” a spokesperson stated.
Instacart added that the “limited, short-term, and randomized tests” helps retailers determine which important objects to maintain reasonably priced for prospects.
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