On Monday, Instacart announced it would end its price-testing program after a report from Consumer Reports and two advocacy groups raised concerns.
The program let retailers test how different prices affected consumer demand. It was intended to help grocers learn what customers would pay, similar to how stores vary prices across locations.
Consumer Reports, Groundwork Collaborative, and More Perfect Union found that nearly three out of every four grocery items were offered at multiple prices. An example was a dozen Lucerne eggs at a Safeway store in Washington, D.C., where customers saw one of five prices: $3.99, $4.28, $4.59, $4.69, or $4.79.
Instacart said, “At a time when families are working exceptionally hard to stretch every grocery dollar, those tests raised concerns, leaving some people questioning the prices they see on Instacart. That’s not okay – especially for a company built on trust, transparency, and affordability.”
Instacart clarified that the services were neither dynamic pricing nor surveillance pricing. Prices were offered to customers at random, with some seeing a slightly higher price and others a slightly lower price.
Retailers will still set their own prices on the delivery website and may still offer different prices at different brick-and-mortar locations, Instacart said.
Instacart had been offering the price-testing service to retailers since 2023. The company declined to say how many customers may have been affected but will end the service effective immediately.
Last week, Instacart agreed to pay $60 million in customer refunds to settle federal allegations of deceptive practices. The Federal Trade Commission had accused Instacart of falsely advertising free deliveries and not clearly disclosing service fees, which add as much as 15% to an order and must be paid for customers.
Instacart denied FTC allegations of wrongdoing and said it reached a settlement in order to move forward and focus on its business.
Instacart said in its blog post Monday, “Trust is earned through clarity and consistency. Customers should never have to second-guess the prices they’re seeing.”
With the price-testing program discontinued and the FTC settlement resolved, Instacart signals a renewed emphasis on clear pricing and customer trust.
Key Takeaways
- Instacart ends its price-testing program after Consumer Reports found multiple prices for most items.
- The program had been offered to retailers since 2023 and will be discontinued immediately.
- Instacart also settled a $60 million refund case with the FTC over deceptive delivery-fee practices.
