Grocery prices might change faster than they usually do. Here's why

[Paco Dennis]

"Consumers may be getting sticker shock at the rapidly changing prices of groceries and other items.

Mark Twain once famously said that if you don't like the weather in New England, wait a minute.

Consumers may have a similar feeling when they run into rapidly changing prices of groceries and other items.

Retailers are using such methods as electronic price tags, which makes it easier to change the prices of items, and dynamic pricing, which allows for the automated adjustment of prices.

They cite such factor as rising labor and shipping costs and continuing shortages associated with the Covid-19 pandemic as reasons for employing these methods.

"Dynamic pricing is a strategy that responds to data and adjusts pricing to reflect that data, sometimes many times within a day.," said Barbara Kahn, marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

The strategy has been used by such large retailers as Amazon (AMZN) - Get Amazon.com, Inc. Report and Walmart (WMT) - Get Walmart Inc. Report for years to remain competitive with peers while protecting their margins.

"Retailers’ goals are to maximize profit, so they try to price as high as they can as long as the consumers perceived the price to be 'fair' – or to reflect the value the consumer obtains from acquiring the good," Kahn said

Prices are decreased then to reflect increased competition, she added, or increase primary demand."

https://www.thestreet.com/investing...-change-faster-than-they-usually-do-heres-why

 

[Liberty]

Bla, bla, bla...prices have gone from "ridiculous" to "I can't believe it"...lol.

 

[Lee]

Makes sense. Can't remember the last time I actually saw a sticker on an item for sale unless it was in a small variety store.

 

[Paco Dennis]

Misa works at Dollar General. She said they just got the new "micro-chips" to set up their self serve isles. The chips will be connected to the main company, and they are running similar algorithms that the stock market high volume trading uses to glean 1/2 a cent on everything they sell...and don't.

 

[Kaila]

I wonder how fast and how often,
the grocery store item prices would, or already do, change with an automated pricing system like that described in the OP.
Thanks for posting about it, @Paco Dennis

I wish there would be a minimal time period that a price would remain the same, in a system like that.
Or an announced scheduled day of the week they change, or even 2 days of each week.

Something (anything !) to limit the total and complete
day-by-day, hour-to-hour unpredictability,
of such a rapid system, like the one described in this thread.

If one buys an item , and decides more of it is needed,
a day later, or even later on the same day,
we'd better check the new, current price!

 

[Don M.]

It seems that every time we go to the grocery store, and I'm browsing the prices, while my wife is filling the cart, I find several items that have gone up, in price, in just a few days. Between gas and grocery prices, I suspect that Inflation will hit double digit gains in 2022.

 

[Remy]

One thing I've noticed is cat litter fluctuating at WINCO Foods. This has gone on for years. Cliff Bars were 99 cents for years, now they are $1.29. I've noticed increases on items. Nothing I can't handle so far.

 

[Leann]

I went grocery shopping yesterday. Either prices have stabilized or I'm becoming immune to sticker shock. The one positive is that I noticed the store shelves are filling up again. I haven't seen that in a long while.