Key Points
Walmart is rolling out digital shelf labels and expects the technology to be in all U.S. stores by year’s end. Kroger also has begun experimenting with the technology.
The nation’s largest retailer says the digital price tags help associates do their jobs better and stresses that prices on items will be exactly the same for every consumer in every store.
Some legislators are wary of the technology’s potential to be used in dynamic pricing models that disadvantage consumers, with Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) introducing a bill to ban it.
Yeah, about that… https://youtu.be/odhVF_xLIQA
Oh Jesus, that was a pretty good watch.
TL;DW
Pepsi was caught price fixing for Walmart, specifically to make sure that no other store in the geographic area of a Walmart could buy Pepsi at a price where they could match Walmart.
Sure, they had to cheat just to eek out this margin:
Profitability:
Profit Margin 3.07%
Operating Margin (ttm) 4.57%
My point isn’t that Walmart isn’t a scumbag, just that prices won’t fall appreciably even if we did something about it. What’s debasing peoples standard of living is money supply growth, via QE largely.
If we don’t do something about it, Walmart will just own everything.
Non-chain stores will be a footnote in history if we don’t keep the chains from playing dirty.
Then, care to take a guess at what happens to prices once they don’t have to fix them?