The program was meant to help grocers and other retailers learn more about what kinds of prices customers would pay for items, similar to how stores offer different prices for the same products at different locations.But it raised alarms after a report from Consumer Reports and two progressive advocacy groups, Groundwork Collaborative and More Perfect Union, said Instacart offered nearly three out of every four grocery items to shoppers at multiple prices in an experiment.Retailers will continue to set their own prices on the delivery website and they may still offer different prices at different brick-and-mortar locations, Instacart said, but “from now on, Instacart will not support any item price testing services.” Some customers would simply see a slightly higher price for an item, while others would see a slightly lower price.
The experiment by Consumer Reports and the two progressive advocacy groups, for example, found that Instacart customers saw one of five different prices for the same dozen of Lucerne eggs from a Safeway store in Washington, D.C.: $3.99, $4.28, $4.59, $4.69, or $4.79.Popular ReadsEpstein files so far don't support allegations of previously unknown accomplicesDec 19, 11:58 PM3 police officers shot 'without warning' while responding to domestic callDec 20, 6:40 AMRob Reiner's son arrested for murder in stabbing death of famed director, wifeDec 15, 6:39 PMLast week, in a separate case, 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.“Trust is earned through clarity and consistency,” Instacart said in its blog post Monday.“Customers should never have to second-guess the prices they’re seeing.”
