Bloomington grocery stores, including Kroger, are using digital price tags, a practice the government has questioned for how it could exploit consumers.
Kroger announced the electronic shelf labels, known as ESLs, would be implemented in 2018. The chain uses technology created through a partnership with Microsoft called Enhanced Display for Grocery Environment.
In August 2024, two U.S. senators sent a letter to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen requesting information on the use of electronic shelf labels.
The letter raises concerns that electronic shelf labels could enable grocery chains to use “surge pricing” for consumers based on factors like the time of day or demand.
Kroger denied in a response to the senators’ letter that it uses surge pricing, according to CNBC, stating the labels help the chain better manage inventory.
Senators also introduced a bill this year seeking to ban digital shelf labels and dynamic pricing in large stores.
Lessie Frazier Lennon, an Indiana University American Studies professor and local resident, said her concern is stores might use artificial intelligence to monitor individuals’ shopping behavior to maximize profit.
When she learned the Kroger on College Mall Road began using electronic labels, Frazier Lennon said she planned to stop shopping there.
“I think that as consumers we need to do that,” she said. “It’s already bad enough that big food has consolidated these big monopolies on groceries.”
Kroger spokesperson Eric Halvorson declined an interview, but he said in an emailed statement that Kroger only changes prices to reflect the figure found on its website or in its weekly ads and promotions.
Raymond Burke, Professor of Marketing at IU’s Kelley School of Business, said electronic labels have been around for at least 30 years, particularly in Europe, but major retailers are beginning to implement the technology in the U.S.
Consumers’ concerns about surge pricing aren’t unfounded, Burke said, but observational studies of stores using electronic shelf labels so far have not found evidence of surge pricing.
“You can do experimentation with these price labels to better understand what consumers' price elasticities are, and charge people what they're willing to pay,” he said.
Another grocery chain, Walmart, is also using electronic shelf labels.
Robyn Babbitt, director of corporate communications at Walmart, said the store started using electronic shelf labels at its Bloomington location in late 2025, about a year after Walmart first implemented the labels in some stores.
Babbitt said prices on digital price labels do not collect any information about shoppers or use artificial intelligence. Through a centralized system, Walmart stores change prices overnight, usually outside of shopping hours.
“Our systems actually prevent at the local level from prices being raised at the store level,” she said.
