{"id":71970,"date":"2026-10-14T03:08:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T03:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/?p=71970"},"modified":"2026-10-14T03:08:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T03:08:22","slug":"could-algorithms-affect-quebecers-grocery-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/?p=71970","title":{"rendered":"Could algorithms affect Quebecers\u2019 grocery bills?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Electronic shelf labels are making it easier for grocery stores to change prices. But experts say a bigger concern is whether retailers could eventually use personal data to determine how much individual customers pay.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSurveillance pricing is very much about customizing a pricing strategy based on personal algorithms, individual digital profiles,\u201d said Sylvain Charlebois, director of Dalhousie University\u2019s Agri-Food Analytics Lab. \u201cSo depending on where you live, how much you make, how many cars you own, who you know, that\u2019s really what surveillance pricing is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The idea is getting mixed reactions from Montrealers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI work in the tech industry, so I do know that they probably have a lot of information on us,\u201d one Montrealer told CityNews.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another shopper said he was less concerned.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say I\u2019m okay with it. If a grocery store knows where I live, that\u2019s fine with me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Surveillance pricing is different from dynamic pricing, where prices fluctuate based on factors such as demand and availability. Dynamic pricing has long been used by industries including airlines and hotels.<\/span><\/p>\n

In grocery stores, electronic shelf labels can make changing prices more efficient. However, the labels themselves don\u2019t mean shoppers are being charged personalized prices. Loblaw, Sobeys and Metro told CityNews they have no plans to use surveillance pricing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Charlebois says the grocery industry\u2019s tight margins could provide an incentive to find new ways of increasing revenue, but warns about the potential ethical implications.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou are looking at an industry with very thin margins, so any way to increase margins would be welcome. But sometimes ethical lines are crossed, and we saw that with bread a few years ago.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One Montrealer said she could see advantages to stores using customer information to tailor the products they carry, but would draw the line at broader uses of her personal information.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Indian. I eat a lot of Indian stuff. So if my nearest [grocery store] has Indian products, that will make me happy,\u201d she said. \u201cBut them knowing my information other than that is not what I want.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Charlebois says there is currently no evidence that Canadian grocery stores are using surveillance pricing. But with artificial intelligence playing a growing role in the industry, the food policy expert says surveillance pricing is something consumers and governments should keep an eye on.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat worries me is that the ethical line could be crossed,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
The mobile app “Made O’Meter”, developed to help shoppers to identify and boycott American goods, is shown on a smartphone in a grocery store in Copenhagen, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo\/James Brooks) Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.<\/span> <\/small><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Electronic shelf labels are making it easier for grocery stores to change prices. But experts say a bigger concern is whether retailers could eventually use personal data to determine how much individual customers pay. \u201cSurveillance pricing is very much about customizing a pricing strategy based on personal algorithms, individual digital profiles,\u201d said Sylvain Charlebois, director …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":71971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[198],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-198"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71970"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72017,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71970\/revisions\/72017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/71971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}