Home Depot Says Electronic Shelf Labels Won't Bring Dynamic Pricing — But the Debate Isn't Over

Why Home Depot Is Rolling Out Digital Price Tags — And Why Shoppers Are Nervous

Home Depot is moving toward a wider deployment of electronic shelf labels — the small digital screens that replace paper price tags on store shelves — but the company's top technology executive wants shoppers to know the technology won't change what they pay. Angie Brown, Home Depot's executive vice president and chief information officer, told Business Insider that using the labels for dynamic pricing is 'absolutely not' on the table.

Instead, Brown said the labels serve operational purposes: showing customers when the next delivery of a product is expected, helping gig workers and employees locate items quickly as stores double as fulfilment hubs, and reflecting transparent commodity market prices for building materials and garden goods. Home Depot has been testing the technology since at least 2020, when its annual report noted initial use in the appliances section.

The disclosure matters because electronic shelf labels have become a flashpoint in American retail. Walmart, Kroger, Best Buy and Whole Foods have all rolled them out, and consumer groups worry the wireless-updatable tags could let stores raise prices during peak hours or use personal data to charge different shoppers differently. Those fears have already produced legislative action: New Jersey passed a yearlong moratorium on new ESL implementations, and Maryland requires grocery stores to keep electronically displayed prices unchanged for a full business day.

Retailers have responded with public commitments. Walmart CEO John Furner wrote to customers and employees in September that the company prices 'the product, not the person.' Target issued a similar statement this month. Home Depot's Brown echoed that stance, noting that Pro customers receiving bulk discounts get them through transparent threshold rules, not personal data — and that for everyone else, the price one shopper sees should match what the next shopper sees.

The Real Stakes Behind Retail's Electronic Shelf Label Push

Why Home Depot Is Talking About This Now

Home Depot's decision to publicly address dynamic pricing concerns is a defensive move as much as a technology update. The retailer has been testing ESLs for years, but the broader industry rollout — and the political backlash it has triggered — has made silence risky. By getting ahead of the narrative, Home Depot joins Walmart and Target in trying to define the technology's purpose before regulators or activists define it for them.

The stakes are not trivial. Electronic shelf labels offer genuine operational value: they eliminate the labour cost of manually changing paper tags, improve inventory accuracy, and — as Brown noted — can light up to guide workers and delivery drivers through stores that increasingly function as fulfilment centres. For a retailer with over 2,000 US locations, even small efficiency gains compound quickly.

The Gap Between Operational Efficiency and Consumer Trust

The industry's problem is that the same technology that enables accurate delivery information also enables rapid, centralised price changes. Consumers and lawmakers understand this, which is why New Jersey and Maryland have acted. The legislative response is notable for its speed — a sign that ESLs have joined a broader set of retail technologies, from facial recognition to loyalty pricing, that the public views with suspicion.

Retailers argue the distinction is intent, not capability. Walmart's 'we price the product, not the person' framing and Home Depot's 'transparent rules' language both attempt to draw a line between operational use and discriminatory pricing. Whether that line holds depends less on corporate statements than on whether regulators find evidence of abuse — and whether consumers believe the assurances.

What the Commodity Caveat Actually Means

Brown's acknowledgement that ESLs will reflect individual commodity markets is more significant than it may appear. Building materials and garden goods are subject to real-time market fluctuations, and digital labels make it easier to pass those changes through to shelf prices. That is not dynamic pricing in the demand-based sense consumers fear, but it does mean prices in those categories could move more frequently than shoppers are accustomed to. The distinction between 'reflecting commodity markets' and 'changing prices more often' may prove difficult to communicate at the shelf edge.

Where This Leaves the Industry

Home Depot's position is now aligned with the rest of big-box retail: adopt the technology, deny the dystopian use case, and hope regulators accept the distinction. The risk is that a single credible report of price discrimination — at any major retailer — could trigger a broader legislative crackdown that catches all adopters. For now, the competitive pressure runs the other way: retailers that hesitate on ESLs risk falling behind on the operational efficiency their rivals are already banking.

What This Means for Retailers, Shoppers and Regulators

For retailers deploying electronic shelf labels, the lesson from Home Depot, Walmart and Target is that public commitments on pricing must come before — not after — consumer backlash.

• Retailers evaluating ESLs (0–6 months): Follow Home Depot's approach of clearly separating operational use cases (delivery information, worker navigation, commodity pass-through) from pricing strategy in all internal and external communications. Walmart's September memo and Target's October statement show the reputational cost of staying silent.
• Compliance teams (0–6 months): Review exposure to state-level rules. Maryland's requirement that electronic prices remain unchanged for a full business day and New Jersey's moratorium set precedents that other states are likely to follow. Retailers operating in multiple states should build for the strictest standard.
• Retailers with commodity exposure (6–24 months): Home Depot's admission that ESLs will reflect commodity market prices creates a communication challenge. Develop clear in-store signage explaining why a price changed — transparency at the shelf edge is cheaper than a regulatory inquiry.
• Investors and analysts (ongoing): Watch for three signals: whether other states pass ESL legislation, whether any retailer faces enforcement action over price display accuracy, and whether Home Depot's ESL rollout expands beyond current test departments in its next annual report.