Walmart secured two U.S. patents in early 2026 for machine learning systems designed to forecast demand and recommend markdown prices on its e-commerce platform. When the patents became public in March 2026, consumers and lawmakers in several states raised questions about dynamic pricing; Walmart stated both patents are unrelated to dynamic pricing and that it does not participate in surge pricing. Separately, Walmart is rolling out digital shelf labels across all 4,600 U.S. stores, with roughly 2,300 locations already equipped as of March 2026.

In January 2026, Walmart was granted a U.S. patent for a system to dynamically and automatically update e-commerce item prices to carry out markdowns in its e-commerce unit, which generated over $150 billion in sales last year. In March 2026, Walmart received a second patent, US-12524776-B2, for a machine learning engine that ingests purchase history, historical prices, and customer identifiers to forecast demand and generate price recommendations for merchant teams. Walmart told the Financial Times both patents are unrelated to dynamic pricing; a spokesperson stated: "We don't participate in surge pricing." Separately, Walmart's Market Intelligence platform uses machine learning to provide insights into competitor pricing and assortment. As of March 2026, roughly 2,300 U.S. stores use digital shelf labels, with full chain-wide rollout expected by end of 2026; before digital labels, associates walked store aisles to swap paper price tags by hand.