Five shoppers ordered the same dozen eggs from the same Safeway on Instacart. They were charged five different prices — $3.99 to $4.79. Same store. Same time. Same product.
Meanwhile, in Australia, bell peppers cost farmers 89¢. Australia’s largest retailer (Woolworths) sells them for $6.90. That’s a 775% markup — and consumers can now see it.
In the US, Consumer Reports ran pricing experiments with 437 shoppers. The FTC sent Instacart a civil investigative demand. The New York Attorney General is investigating. In Australia, the ACCC just wrapped a year-long inquiry into farmgate-to-retail pricing gaps. Reddit threads dissect supermarket margins in real time on both sides of the Pacific.
It’s global, all categories, all markets
Retail pricing used to be a black box. Not anymore.
This breaks traditional TPM planning in a way most TPM solutions haven’t addressed.
Your promotional strategy assumes three isolated conversations: manufacturer negotiates with retailer, retailer sets shelf price, and consumer sees final number.
But shoppers now compare your $2-off promotion across every retailer in seconds. And algorithms are testing five price points on the same item simultaneously. Which price is your promotion discounting from? Which one are you measuring ROI against?
Those conversations aren’t isolated anymore.
Your promotional ROI calculations are built on assumptions that no longer hold. You’re optimizing trade spend based on retailer behaviour, while the consumer has better price intelligence than your planning team.
Your TPM system was built for a world where shoppers were blind.
They’re not blind anymore.
How are you adapting promotional planning now that pricing transparency is the new normal?
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