San Antonians who order groceries through the Instacart delivery service may find that their grocery bills contain an unwanted surprise.<\/p>\n
An investigation<\/a> conducted by Consumer Reports and two nonprofits, Groundwork Collaborative and More Perfect Union, found that AI-enabled experiments performed by Instacart resulted in prices on identical grocery products fluctuating as much as 23 percent from one shopper to another.<\/p>\n \u201cAlgorithmic pricing is usually invisible to consumers, who typically see only the prices and fees they\u2019re offered,\u201d Consumer Reports says.<\/p>\n Algorithmic pricing, also known as surveillance pricing, relies on AI and software to crunch mounds of customers\u2019 personal data and set real-time prices tailored to each shopper.<\/p>\n In Texas, Instacart\u2019s grocery partners include H-E-B, Aldi, Costco, Kroger, Sam\u2019s Club, and Sprouts Farmers Market. San Antonio-based H-E-B, the dominant grocery chain in Texas, launched Instacart grocery deliveries in Texas<\/a> in 2015, with Austin and Houston being the first two markets.<\/p>\n The investigation analyzed data from more than 400 Instacart shoppers in four U.S. cities, none of which is in Texas. Nearly three-fourths of grocery items featured in the Instacart investigation offered different prices to different shoppers.<\/p>\n Overall, the Instacart grocery bills examined by researchers varied by an average of seven percent for the same items purchased from the same locations at precisely the same times. The average price variations revealed by the study could cost a four-member household about $1,200 per year, Consumer Reports says.<\/p>\n In response to the investigation, Instacart confirms Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative\u2019s findings and acknowledges AI-driven pricing experiments were underway at 10 of Instacart\u2019s grocery partners at the time of the investigation. Instacart tells Consumer Reports that the experiments, which it calls \u201climited, short-term, and randomized tests,\u201d affect only a small number of its retail partners, have a limited effect on consumers\u2019 wallets, and are aligned with in-store pricing practices.<\/p>\n Four of the grocers cited in the Instacart investigation operate in Texas: Costco, Kroger, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Target. Although H-E-B is a common place to see Instacart shoppers, it isn’t mentioned.<\/p>\n Deidre Popovich<\/a>, associate professor of marketing and supply chain management at Texas Tech University, says the many Texas shoppers who rely on Instacart and other grocery-focused companies that embrace AI pricing might wind up paying higher prices and facing less pricing transparency.<\/p>\n \u201cConsumers can no longer have consistent price expectations when AI-pricing algorithms are used,\u201d Popovich tells CultureMap.<\/p>\n Popovich says consumers can reduce their exposure to AI-influenced grocery prices by doing comparison shopping \u2014 through brands\u2019 apps and other means \u2014 at several retailers, such as H-E-B, Costco, and Sam\u2019s Club. Furthermore, she advises shopping for groceries at consistent times and limiting \u201cimpulse add-ons\u201d that signal to retailers a willingness to pay higher prices.<\/p>\n The issue raised by the investigation has a strong tie to Texas regardless of which chains are involved.<\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, an Austin Democrat, introduced legislation<\/a> in July that would ban companies from using AI to set prices based on personal data, a practice called \u201csurveillance pricing.\u201d The bill is known as the Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act of 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cInstacart\u2019s AI price-gouging scheme is exactly why I introduced the first bill in Congress to stop surveillance pricing,\u201d Casar says in a statement provided to CultureMap. \u201cNo corporation should be allowed to use hidden algorithms to exploit working families, and I\u2019m fighting to make sure Texans are protected from this kind of abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n The National Retail Federation, the country\u2019s largest trade group for retailers, hasn\u2019t commented on Casar\u2019s bill. However, the group unsuccessfully tried in federal court to block a new state law in New York<\/a> that requires retailers to disclose whether they use algorithmic pricing.<\/p>\n