安妮·迪诺森齐奥（ANNE D'INNOCENZIO）纽约报道 — 沃尔玛正在为其门店推广数字价格标签，旨在消除顾客对这项新技术可能带来的定价担忧。
ANNE D'INNOCENZIO NEW YORK — Walmart is aiming to assuage customers’ fears about its new pricing technology as it rolls out digital price labels at its stores.
沃尔玛公司首席执行官约翰·弗纳（John Furner）在公司网站发布的一份声明中承诺，这家总部位于阿肯色州本顿维尔的零售商并未利用收入、购物记录或顾客支付意愿等个人信息来设定价格，未来也不会这样做。
In a statement posted on the company’s website, Walmart Inc.'s CEO John Furner vowed that the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer isn’t using personal information like income, shopping history or a customer’s willingness to pay to set prices, and it won’t be doing so in the future either.
“我们不会根据您的身份或一天中的不同时间设定不同的价格，以后也不会，”弗纳在周五写道。“无论您是在炎热的午后购买食品杂货或电子产品，还是因为急需某件商品而购物，这绝不是向您多收费的理由。”沃尔玛做出这一承诺之际，一些购物者、消费者权益倡导者和立法者对这家折扣零售商及其他商店推广数字价格标签的做法表示怀疑，担忧情绪日益高涨。数字价格标签正在迅速取代美国超市里的纸质货架标签，它允许商店通过中央计算机即时更改价格，而无需员工手动更换纸质标签。
“We don’t set different prices based on who you are or the time of day, and we won’t,” Furner wrote Friday. “Whether you’re buying groceries or electronics on a hot afternoon or in a sudden rush for an item, it’s never a reason to charge you more.” The pledge from Walmart comes as concerns are mounting from some shoppers, consumer advocates and lawmakers skeptical about the rollout of digital price labels by the discounter and other stores. Digital price labels are rapidly replacing paper shelf tags at U.S. supermarkets and let stores change prices instantly from a central computer instead of having workers swap out paper labels by hand.
弗纳指出，沃尔玛对其人工智能购物助手“Sparky”也做出了同样的承诺，不会利用该机器人来提高顾客的价格，也不会隐藏符合其需求的低价商品选项。弗纳表示，此类做法将违背公司“天天低价”的商业模式。
Furner noted that Walmart is also holding its artificial intelligence shopping assistant Sparky to the same promise and won’t be using the bot to raise a customer’s price or hide lower-priced options that meet their needs. Furner said such practices would violate the company’s “every day low prices” business model.
他还指出，价格确实会发生变化：沃尔玛在能够让利时会降低价格，有时也会因为商品采购或运输成本增加而提高价格。
He also noted that prices can change: Walmart lowers them when it can pass savings along, or sometimes raises them because an item costs more to buy or to transport, he said.
沃尔玛在三月份表示，已有2300家美国门店使用数字货架，预计这项技术将在未来一年内覆盖全美所有门店。
Walmart said in March that 2,300 Walmart U.S. locations already use digital shelves, and it expects this technology to be chain-wide within the next year.
沃尔玛高管多次表示，使用电子货架价格标签是为了帮助零售商保持价格的一致性，并确保其与结账时扫描的价格相符。此外，通过取代纸质标签，该技术还节省了员工的时间并降低了劳动力成本。
Walmart executives have repeatedly said it uses electronic shelf price tags to help the retailer change prices consistently and match what rings up at checkout. It also saves workers time and reduces labor costs by replacing paper tags.
上个月，美国联邦贸易委员会（Federal Trade Commission, FTC）宣布，将向相关企业发出警告，指出个性化定价的做法可能违反消费者保护法规。该机构表示，虽然自身没有法律权力在所有情况下都禁止个性化定价，但已发布了一份新的公告，提醒企业必须向消费者明确说明其如何利用消费者的个人信息来制定价格。
Last month, the Federal Trade Commission said that it’s putting companies on notice that the practice of personalizing pricing could violate consumer protection laws. The agency said it does not have the legal authority to ban personalized pricing in all circumstances, but it issued a new bulletin that warned companies that they must disclose to customers how the personal information is being used to set a price.