Walmart has been granted two US patents covering automated pricing tools, as the Arkansas-based retailer intensifies its use of technology across its retail operations.
The patents arrive amid an active debate in the US over the use of algorithms to adjust consumer prices.
The first patent, obtained in January 2026, covers a system for dynamically and automatically updating item prices to carry out markdowns in its e-commerce unit, a division that generated more than USD 150 billion in sales last year. A second patent, granted in March 2026, outlines a machine learning-based tool for forecasting demand and recommending prices across product categories, including food, clothing, outdoor equipment, and housewares. The demand forecasting tool would draw on data sources including purchase history, prices, payment methods, and customer identification.
Walmart stated that both patents are unrelated to dynamic pricing. Additionally, the company described the January patent as specific to markdowns and the second as a decision-support tool for merchant teams rather than an autonomous pricing mechanism. Walmart has also said that price updates remain people-led and consistent with its longstanding everyday low prices strategy.
Regulatory and commercial context
The patents arrive as legislators in several US states, including Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota, have introduced bills targeting dynamic pricing, defined as prices that fluctuate rapidly in response to supply and demand, for groceries and consumer goods. Two Democratic US senators have separately introduced legislation seeking to ban electronic shelf labels in large grocery stores, technology that Walmart is currently installing across all 4,600 of its US stores. Critics have raised concerns that remotely updated labels could be used to change prices frequently or in confusing ways, though industry groups have characterised widespread misuse as hypothetical.
Research by Morgan Stanley has found that Walmart's grocery prices have historically been 10 to 25% lower than those of conventional grocery stores. Walmart has stated it does not participate in surge pricing. The company has been granted nearly 50 US patents so far in 2026, reflecting the scale of its technology investment programme.
