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Grocery delivery platforms have been charging customers different prices for identical items. New Jersey’s proposed ban could change that.

Key Points

• New Jersey may ban grocery price changes based on personal data like browsing or shopping history.
• Proposed laws could fine grocers up to $20,000 for using personalized pricing algorithms.
• A study found Instacart charged different prices for identical groceries, costing families as much as $1,200 yearly.

Imagine buying the exact same bag of groceries as your neighbor—same store, same day—and paying nearly $10 more based on your personal information. That situation has been playing out for some online grocery shoppers, and lawmakers in at least one state are trying to make it illegal.

New Jersey is considering two bills that would stop businesses from using your data to set individualized prices on goods and services. If passed, the laws would affect both brick-and-mortar supermarkets and grocery delivery platforms. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill has pledged to sign both proposals if they reach her desk.

What the New Jersey Bills Would Do

The first bill, Senate Bill 3612, would make it unlawful under New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act to use personalized algorithmic pricing, surveillance pricing or any other strategy that determines the sale price of a product based on a consumer’s personal data. That data is defined broadly to include browsing history, shopping history, location, biometric information and even gender or marital status.

The second bill, Senate Bill 3732, takes aim more specifically at the grocery industry, targeting retail grocers and third-party grocery delivery platforms that use dynamic, surveillance or personalized algorithmic pricing in the sale of food.

Businesses that violate either law could face fines of up to $10,000 for a first offense and up to $20,000 for any subsequent offense, in addition to potential punitive damages.

In her recent fiscal year 2027 budget address, Gov. Sherrill framed the issue in plain terms, noting that some grocers now switch prices based on things like time of day or a customer’s phone browsing history. She called the practice outrageous and announced her intention to work with legislators to pass restrictions on what she described as for-profit surveillance by tech companies.

Are Grocery Stores Using Dynamic Pricing?

The proposed legislation arrives in the wake of a monthslong investigation by Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative published in December 2025. Reporters found that Instacart—the dominant grocery delivery platform in the U.S.—had been running widespread AI-enabled pricing experiments across several major grocery chains. The investigation involved hundreds of volunteers who simultaneously shopped on Instacart for identical baskets of goods. Every single participant turned out to be an unwitting subject in Instacart’s pricing experiments.

About three-quarters of the products checked were offered at different prices to different customers. In one test at a Seattle-area Safeway, the same basket of 20 groceries ranged from $114.34 to $123.93 depending on the shopper. Researchers estimated that price variations of that magnitude could translate to a cost swing of roughly $1,200 per year for a family of four. The practice was found occurring not just at Safeway but also at Albertsons, Costco, Kroger, Sprouts Farmers Market and Target.

Instacart confirmed the findings but described the price differences as small and comparable to well-established in-store testing practices. Following the investigation’s publication, the company said it stopped offering the technology that allowed grocery retailers to charge different shoppers different prices for the same items at the same time.

New Jersey may be among the first states to take formal legislative action, but it isn’t alone in its scrutiny of the practice. In January 2026, California’s attorney general launched an investigative sweep into retailers, grocers and travel companies suspected of using personal data to adjust prices for individual consumers.

The Bottom Line

Algorithmic and surveillance pricing—where what you pay depends on who you are, where you are or what your data reveals about your spending habits—is a practice some retailers are experimenting with, and consumers are largely unaware it’s happening. New Jersey’s proposed bills represent some of the country’s earliest legislative efforts to put explicit limits on the practice. Whether other states follow will be worth watching, but in the meantime, knowing that your price may vary from someone else’s can help you contextualize your cart.