Walmart and other major retailers are replacing paper shelf labels as consumer advocates and regulators scrutinize rapidly changing and personalized prices.
NEW YORK — Small electronic screens are increasingly replacing familiar paper price tags on store shelves, giving retailers a faster way to update thousands of prices while prompting questions from shoppers about how the technology could eventually be used.
Electronic shelf labels, sometimes called digital shelf labels, display prices and other product information on small screens attached to store shelves. Chains including Walmart, Kroger and Whole Foods have adopted the technology. The labels can be updated electronically instead of requiring employees to remove and replace paper tags one at a time, potentially turning a labor-intensive job into a process that can be completed much more quickly.
Walmart has made digital shelf labels a major part of its store technology strategy. The company said in March that roughly 2,300 of its U.S. locations were already using the labels and that it expected the technology to reach its entire U.S. store network within about a year. Walmart says the technology helps employees update prices more efficiently and locate products for restocking and online orders.
The speed of those updates is also behind some consumer concerns. A price that once required an employee to physically replace a paper tag can now be changed electronically. ConsumerAffairs writer Kyle James told InvestigateTV that retailers say they are not using the technology to adjust prices according to the time of day or day of the week. He said shoppers nevertheless may notice that promotions and prices can be changed more quickly than before.
Electronic labels themselves do not determine what a product costs. They display prices supplied by a retailer’s pricing system. That distinction has become important as digital shelf labels are sometimes discussed alongside dynamic pricing and personalized pricing. Dynamic pricing generally involves changing prices according to factors such as demand or inventory, while personalized pricing can involve using information about an individual consumer to determine the price that person sees.
Walmart has sought to separate its digital shelf-label rollout from those concerns. The company says all customers in a store see the same price on its electronic labels and that the displays do not contain cameras, microphones or facial-recognition technology. Walmart also says its labels do not collect personal information. CEO John Furner said in September that the retailer does not set different prices based on who a shopper is or the time of day and does not intend to do so.
The Federal Trade Commission has separately been examining the broader use of consumer information in pricing. The agency has studied what it calls surveillance pricing, in which personal information and consumer behavior can be used to tailor prices or promotions. FTC research has examined systems that may draw on information such as location, demographics, browsing activity and shopping history. That scrutiny concerns the wider pricing technology market and does not establish that stores using electronic shelf labels are using those labels to personalize prices.
The FTC in August also sought public comment on a proposed enforcement policy statement addressing personalized pricing. The agency said consumers could be misled when businesses use personal data to determine prices without adequately disclosing the practice. Federal rules do not generally prohibit all forms of dynamic pricing, and the FTC has said businesses may adjust prices based on factors such as demand or inventory as long as their pricing representations are not misleading.
For retailers, one of the strongest arguments for electronic labels is efficiency. A large store can carry tens of thousands of individually priced products, making paper price changes a substantial task for employees. Digital labels allow approved changes to be transmitted electronically and can also include features that help workers find merchandise that needs to be stocked or picked for online orders.
The technology’s expansion means the debate is increasingly about what retailers could do with faster pricing systems as well as what they are doing now. Electronic shelf labels make rapid price updates technically easier, but their presence alone does not show that a retailer is engaging in surge or personalized pricing. Retailers’ policies, pricing systems and use of customer data determine how that capability is used.
As digital labels continue replacing paper tags, regulators, consumer groups and retailers are likely to keep focusing on transparency and the distinction between ordinary electronic price displays and systems that use algorithms or personal information to determine what consumers pay. Walmart, for its part, says its digital labels are designed to modernize how prices are displayed rather than change how individual shoppers are priced.
Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.