Sen. Brown demands answers on Amazon, Walmart’s use of ‘dynamic pricing’

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, raised concerns about corporations unfairly hiking prices by exploiting customer data and using pricing algorithms. In letters to the CEOs of Amazon (AMZN) and Walmart (WMT), Senator Brown wrote that “dynamic pricing” often leads to higher prices for consumers. He pressed for answers on how the companies are using these new technologies to set prices. “Prices are still too high for many of the goods Americans need. And big tech’s exploitation of consumer data is undermining consumers’ ability to comparison shop and save money. Specifically, pricing algorithms alter prices in a way that hurt consumers and suppress competition – taking away people’s ability to find the lowest price,” wrote Brown. “It’s clear that in the long-run, dynamic pricing leads to higher prices.” The letters follow a hearing that Senator Brown chaired last week on how corporations are using dynamic pricing and other price-gouging tactics to raise prices on consumers, driving inflation and making markets less competitive.