By Elias Schisgall
Instacart shares fell after a report accused the company, also known as Maplebear, of charging different prices for the same items.
The stock was down 6.6% to $43.21 in Wednesday morning trading. Shares are up 2% this year.
The report, led by Consumer Reports, progressive think tank Groundwork Collaborative, and progressive media outlet More Perfect Union, said the San Francisco grocery-delivery company displayed several different prices for users who added the same item from the same store at the same time.
It said an experiment using 437 shoppers across four cities who added the same items simultaneously to their Instacart shopping carts from the same store saw an average difference of 13% between the highest and lowest prices, with some differences as high as 23%.
Overall price totals for the same basket varied by about 7% on average, which the report said could represent a cost swing of roughly $1,200 per year.
"Corporate practices like these increase prices for American families," the groups wrote. "Fair and honest markets are the bedrock of a healthy economy--and companies like Instacart are jeopardizing that trust."
Instacart did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
A report alleged Instacart engaged in dynamic pricing testing. "Instacart Shares Fall on Report Alleging Price Discrimination," at 10:48 a.m. ET, misstated that the company engaged in price discrimination in the headline. The error also appeared in the headline of "Instacart Shares Fall on Report Alleging Price Discrimination -- Update," at 11:10 a.m. ET.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 10, 2025 12:58 ET (17:58 GMT)
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