New Jersey becomes one of the first states to ban dynamic pricing

Price check on The Garden State.

New Jersey has officially become the first state to place a one-year moratorium on electronic shelf labels, also known as ESLs, as Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed into law the Fair Price Protection Act. The newly signed bill bans surveillance pricing — where businesses have the ability to adjust their prices in real-time with digital tags based on consumer data. 

The bill means gone are the days that New Jersey retailers may factor in a shopper’s online activity, location, purchasing history or other collected data when setting prices.

“New Jersey families are already feeling the pressure of higher costs. The last thing they need is companies secretly using their personal data to charge them more than someone else for the exact same product,” said Governor Mikie Sherrill in a press release. 

“If businesses want to compete, they should do so by offering better prices, not by finding new ways to squeeze shoppers. This law puts New Jersey shoppers first by protecting their privacy and ensuring fairness in pricing,” she added.   

While the law focuses on dynamic pricing, lawmakers etched out the temporary pause on ESLs while the New Jersey Innovation Authority studies the technology. However, the bill does not force retailers to stop using, repairing or replacing any existing ESLs.

The temporary suspension of ESLs will only impact retailers in the state who have not yet added the technology to stores.

Gov. Sherrill also said that the new law will not ban loyalty programs or discounts. The bill will officially come into force on February 1, 2027.

Big retailers like Kroger or Walmart have been adding ESLs as companies claim they help reduce paper and save the company hours of labor, and free up workers to help shoppers with other tasks. But shoppers fear the digital-style price tags are a potential cash grab as they claim prices sitting on store shelves can change in just seconds.

Lawmakers have been chiming in, as senators also recognize the greedy grab.

“Digital price tags may enable Kroger and other grocery chains to transition to ‘dynamic pricing,’ in which the price of basic household goods could surge based on the time of day, the weather, or other transitory events,” Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey wrote in a letter to the grocery chain.

New Jersey isn’t the only state to crack down on dynamic pricing.

Back in April 2026, Maryland became the first state to pass a law banning the practice. The historic law, the Protection From Predatory Pricing Act, stops grocers and other third-party delivery services from using dynamic pricing “or an individual’s personal data to set higher prices, ensuring consumers pay a transparent, consistent price at the register,” according to the press release.

Maryland’s bill does not have the one-year pause on ESLs and Consumer Reports found that many “provisions of the bill undercut its ban on surveillance pricing,” it said in its findings. The nonprofit behemoth also called the law “weak.”

“The bill has weak enforcement provisions. Consumers are not permitted to sue companies if they’ve been subject to surveillance pricing; this is a departure from Maryland’s primary consumer protection law,” Consumer Reports added.