Viral Walmart Digital Price Tag Rollout Furor May Be Overblown

The megaretailer’s new price labeling system has some consumers crying foul, but many more customers seem unfazed.

Walmart has recently been making waves on social media over its incremental introduction of an in-store digital price tag system, replacing the traditional printed versions. The search term “Walmart digital pricing” has amassed over 71 million views on TikTok since an Arkansas shopper videotaped the new system in action, voicing concerns of Walmart raising prices with little to no notice. 

However, far from raising other Walmart customers’ ire, video commenters instead by and large support the move. Some pointed out that select Kohl’s has been using a similar system for years. Others expressed relief that Walmart’s in-store prices may more easily match those on the retailer’s website, avoiding their need to apply for a refund in the cost difference, as is the current protocol for Walmart’s price guarantee across platforms. 

It seems that these digital price tag-averse Walmart customers may be in the firm minority, as consumers and retailers alike embrace the conveniences of digital tools to enhance the in-store shopping experience. The data backs this up, as evidenced in the PYMNTS collaboration with ACI Worldwide, “Big Retail’s Innovation Mandate: Convenience And Personalization.”

Walmart is certainly not alone in leaning toward digital price tag use. Among surveyed U.S. retailers, 24% think consumers would be very or extremely likely to switch merchants if the capability were not provided. Although that share is not massive, it means that almost one-quarter of these retailers believe the stakes are high in providing this feature, and even that much adoption by large retailers could change the paradigm for the industry.

The advantages are widespread. One is that tools such as digital price tags may help consumers better budget if there is price uniformity across platforms, removing the friction a customer may face in deciding to pay higher prices or go through the time-consuming refund process.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Sean Turner, co-founder and CTO at retail technology company Swiftly, noted that this sort of transparency may actually translate into increased consumer loyalty instead of suspicion. “Shoppers are clipping more coupons. They’re really trying to compare prices across different stores. They might go to the Walmart website or app and see what the product costs there, then launch one of our retailers’ apps like Save Mart’s app or the 99 Cents Only app and search for the same product there to see where it’s cheapest or where they can get a coupon or a discount.

“Even though you might not be a price-sensitive retailer or one that has focused on price, that communication and transparency with the customer is super important, because that is something that customers are looking at now. Ultimately, as long as you are being upfront about the expectations you set with the customer, and then delivering against those expectations, I think that’s going to win consumer loyalty in the long run.”

Although there will almost certainly be a select group of consumers suspicious of change, it may be more beneficial to companies in this case to weigh all feedback expressed. And with Walmart planning for digital price tags to be introduced into more than 500 of their stores, the retailer may be doing just that. 

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