New Jersey shoppers won’t have to wonder if stores are charging them more

⚠️ New Jersey retailers can no longer charge different prices based on shoppers' personal data.

➡️ The new law also pauses electronic grocery shelf labels for one year while the state studies them.

🔴 Business groups warn the law could unintentionally affect loyalty discounts and other pricing tools.

A new ban on surveillance pricing in New Jersey grocery stores goes beyond similar laws in other states.

On Thursday, Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed legislation (A4523) to ban retailers from charging customers different prices for the same products based on personal data. In Newark, the Democratic governor said the ban gives shoppers confidence that they aren't being charged more depending on who they are.

"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," Sherrill said.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill announces a ban on surveillance pricing in grocery stores on July 23, 2026. (New Jersey Office of the Governor via YouTube)

New Jersey also freezes electronic grocery price tags for one year

It also pauses electronic in-store price labels for one year. Electronic labels allow stores to change prices at a whim, charging more depending on the day or even the hour. The moratorium will also allow New Jersey to study these labels and make sure they aren't used for surveillance pricing, Sherrill said.

That makes it the strongest law around surveillance pricing in the country, according to United Food & Commercial Workers Union International Vice President Ademola Oyefeso.

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"Every bill around the nation has touched ordering on the phone. What they didn't touch was going grocery shopping in the store," Oyefeso said.

The bill also received applause from the New Jersey Working Families Party, which said that big tech had turned grocery shopping into a surveillance operation.

"Surveillance pricing is why corporations keep making record-breaking profits while working families feel broke. This law puts a stop to that. New Jersey is setting a model for other states to follow," NJWFP State Director Antoinette Miles said in a statement.

Richard Klotz

Business groups worry about unintended consequences

Sherrill said the ban on surveillance pricing will not affect loyalty programs, coupons, and other standard discounts. However, some business community leaders expressed concerns that the law could have an unintended consequence of eliminating these discounts.

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"Rather than recognizing the strong consumer protections and unit pricing rules already in place in New Jersey, our policymakers once again sought to go one step further and to make New Jersey businesses the bad guy when most are simply trying to communicate prices in a timelier and more efficient manner," said Michele Siekerka, New Jersey Business & Industry Association president and CEO.

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