NYT: Grocery stores move toward customer-specific pricing [View all]

[Newsjock]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/business/supermarkets-try-customizing-prices-for-shoppers.html

It used to be that with dedication and a good pair of scissors, one grocery shopper could get the same coupons — and cheap prices — as another.

Now going to the grocery store is becoming a lot less egalitarian.

At a Safeway in Denver, a 24-pack of Refreshe bottled water costs $2.71 for Jennie Sanford, a project manager. For Emily Vanek, a blogger, the price is $3.69.

... Now grocers like Safeway and Kroger are going one step further, each offering differing methods to determine individualized prices. Hoping to improve razor-thin profit margins, they are creating specific offers and prices, based on shoppers’ behaviors, that could encourage them to spend more: a bigger box of Tide and bologna if the retailer’s data suggests a shopper has a large family, for example (and expensive bologna if the data indicates the shopper is not greatly price-conscious).