this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
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I a shop with 10 products, yes, I'd agree. In a supermarket with thousands of products, they can predict what you're likely to buy if you're a regular customer and you might be the only one buying those items that day.
I don't expect them to do it overnight. First they roll them out for the cost savings. Just like they did with barcodes rather than price labels. Then they start to look at other savings or profit centres.
After a while it becomes, why wouldn't they do it?
Why go through the trouble of gaslighting someone with digital price tags somehow changing the price on the fly based on whoever happens to be looking at it (BTW, what happens if two people with different price profiles are looking at the tag at the same time?), when they could just remove the tags entirely or even more likely, just close the store and force you to shop online where they can do all the usual online price fuckery?
Some countries require pricing to be visible. I would assume, just like online, they will use algorithms and ai to figure out what price point gives the most profit. Its only trouble to set up. The corporate world doesn't look at trouble. They look at cost. If the return investment is positive, they do it. If it's high, they do it as a priority.
Not all retail is online. Much is but not all. Groceries is one that is often better in person for that evenings meal on the way home from work. It's led to the rise of metro style supermarkets near transport hubs.
Grocery is already going online, look at all the companies sponsoring youtube vids. The margins for what you're describing are, at the absolute best, razor-thin.
E-tags draw significantly more profit from things like one-day (loss leader) flash sales, or in-store specials, or other conventional retail pricing tactics.
Take a 4-hour sale on some popular product, put an ad up on Instagram to get people in your store on the way home from work and you make a mint. You don't need E-tags to do that, but it means that you don't have to pay someone to change out the paper tags on that product twice in their shift.
You're getting distracted by the least likely way they'll fuck you over, when they're just sticking to tried-and-true collusion.
The margins in grocery are razor thin. It's a volume game..usually they have your cash before they need to pay the supplier with 30 days payment pretty standard in business.
I'm not saying they won't do all you're suggesting. I'm saying they'll do both. Unless we prevent them with regulations and fines.