Kroger has discovered immense profit in "surveillance pricing," where personal information is collected in order to determine the highest price that you are willing to pay for individual products. New tools like electronic shelf labels (ESLs) and facial recognition widen the reach of surveillance pricing.

Kroger maximizes profit during your trip around the store through surveillance pricing, then profits from surveillance capitalism by selling all the data collected about you to the highest bidder. For instance, you sense that you might be pregnant, even before a pregnancy test. You go to Kroger's to shop for groceries. It is your normal practice to buy a multivitamin every so often (the store has been recording your purchases all along), but today, on a whim, you reach for a prenatal vitamin instead. Nobody knows you are pregnant, and even you aren't sure. The store uses facial recognition to determine that you are a young woman of childbearing age. Bingo! Before the day is over, you start seeing targeted ads for products related to pregnancy in your email, on your social media feeds, and even on your smart TV. The feeding frenzy is on.

Kroger has discovered immense profit in "surveillance pricing," where personal information is collected in order to determine the highest price that you are willing to pay for individual products. New tools like electronic shelf labels (ESLs) and facial recognition widen the reach of surveillance pricing.
Kroger maximizes profit during your trip around the store through surveillance pricing, then profits from surveillance capitalism by selling all the data collected about you to the highest bidder. For instance, you sense that you might be pregnant, even before a pregnancy test. You go to Kroger's to shop for groceries. It is your normal practice to buy a multivitamin every so often (the store has been recording your purchases all along), but today, on a whim, you reach for a prenatal vitamin instead. Nobody knows you are pregnant, and even you aren't sure. The store uses facial recognition to determine that you are a young woman of childbearing age. Bingo! Before the day is over, you start seeing targeted ads for products related to pregnancy in your email, on your social media feeds, and even on your smart TV. The feeding frenzy is on.