Gov. Mikie Sherrill has signed legislation aimed at preventing retailers from using shoppers’ personal data to charge different prices for the same products.
Standing inside the Our Community Grocery Store in Newark, Sherrill signed the Fair Price Protection Act, which prohibits stores from setting prices based on a customer’s personal information, including shopping history or where they live.
“That’s just wrong,” Sherrill said. “People deserve privacy. They deserve fair prices.”
The measure, approved by the Legislature last month, was opposed by Republicans in both the Assembly and Senate, who argued it could limit personalized coupons or loyalty rewards programs. Sherrill said the law will not affect existing loyalty or rewards programs. Instead, she said it is intended to prevent retailers from artificially raising prices before offering discounts that simply return items to their original price.
According to Sherrill, a Consumer Reports investigation found some shoppers were charged up to 20% more for certain items through surveillance pricing practices. She said that could amount to an additional $1,200 in grocery costs over the course of a year for some families.
The law also establishes a one-year pause on the use of digital shelf labels while experts study their impact on pricing and consumers, according to Sherrill. She said the pause is intended to help ensure a “more affordable and more accountable” marketplace in New Jersey.
Sen. Joseph Cryan, D-Union, one of the bill’s primary sponsors, said consumers should expect to pay the same price for the same products.
“It’s as American as apple pie that we all pay the same,” Cryan said.
Assemblyman Chigozie Onyema, D-Maplewood, said surveillance pricing allows companies to use consumer data to determine how much individual shoppers are willing to pay rather than setting prices based on supply and demand.
“The question is no longer ‘what is this worth?’ it’s ‘how much can we extract from each of the individual persons?'” Onyema said.
Henal Patel, interim president and CEO of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, said the measure promotes economic justice, particularly for low-income consumers. United Food and Commercial Workers Union International Vice President Ademola Oyefeso called it the “strongest bill around surveillance pricing in the nation.”
