Overview
- Three states this year — Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey — have passed laws limiting personalized pricing by retailers and delivery services with differing scopes and carve-outs.
- Maryland’s law, which takes effect Oct. 1, targets large grocery stores and third‑party food delivery services while New Jersey also banned individualized grocery pricing and imposed a one‑year pause on new electronic shelf labels.
- A bipartisan U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee held a high‑profile hearing that put Congress and federal agencies on notice and highlighted concerns that algorithmic pricing can be opaque and exploit customers.
- The FTC has warned that pricing algorithms and shared data or recommendation services can produce effectively collusive outcomes, and witnesses described how electronic shelf labels, cameras and loyalty data let stores change prices in real time.
- Consumers and advocates say the practice is hard to detect and often harms lower‑income shoppers while retailers argue personalization can lower costs for some; the result is a patchwork of state rules and uncertain federal action ahead.