Our technology helps lower prices, not personalize them. Digital shelf labels (DSLs) – the small digital screens now appearing under products on our store shelves – are just the newest way we keep that promise, helping make sure the price you see on the shelf is the price you pay at checkout – one more way we help people save money and live better.
A Modern Upgrade to a Long-Standing Promise
Digital shelf labels are simply electronic price displays that replace paper tags on the shelf edge – similar to the digital displays customers have seen for years at gas stations and fast-food drive-thrus. Prices are still set the same way they always have been: centrally, by Walmart, following our Every Day Low Price strategy, with an associate reviewing approved changes. DSLs don’t decide prices. They simply display them, clearly and consistently, for all customers.
Watch this video from the National Retail Federation to learn more about what digital shelf labels are — and what they aren’t:
What You Should Know About Digital Shelf Labels
Here’s exactly what you’re seeing on the shelf:
- All customers see the same price. The price on the label is the same for all customers, no matter the weather, the time of day, or who’s standing in front of the shelf.
- Our DSLs are closed-system displays, with no cameras, microphones, or facial recognition. They don’t track customers or collect personal data. Any customer data Walmart collects through other systems is separate and unrelated to this technology.
- Prices are transparent. Independent academic research examining a major grocery retailer’s use of DSL technology found no evidence of surge pricing or price gouging after adoption. In fact, discounts were more common after DSLs were introduced.
In short, DSLs modernize how prices are displayed, not how they’re decided.
Saving Time, So Associates Can Focus on You
Walmart stores carry tens of thousands of items, and every single one needs to have a clear, accurate shelf price. Between new inventory, Rollbacks and markdowns, pricing updates stack up fast and can take hours, if not days, to complete. Today, that same work can be done in minutes, freeing associates to spend more time with customers and keeping shelves stocked and easy to shop.
Two features make this possible day to day: Stock to Light lets associates activate an LED light on a shelf label to quickly find items that need restocking, and Pick to Light helps associates locate items faster when fulfilling online pickup and delivery orders. Together, they cut down on repetitive manual work and give associates more time for what matters most: serving customers.
Keeping Our Promise, Modernized
While prices and technology may change, Walmart’s commitment to affordability does not. Digital shelf labels are one more way we keep that promise – visible, accurate, and the same for every customer, every time, so people can keep saving money and living better.
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