As long ago as 2017, both the acting chairman and the commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gave speeches on the spread of algorithmic pricing. At the time, a study at Northeastern University estimated that between two percent and 10 percent of third-party sellers on Amazon were using algorithmic pricing. Today, the use of algorithmic pricing (by which computer programs set prices contingent on rules and customer data and may adjust those prices), dynamic pricing (by which product prices are continuously adjusted – sometimes in minutes – in response to real-time supply and demand) and AI-enabled pricing have spread globally and into many retail sectors. More than seven years later, however, with consumers feeling squeezed by pricing and with government regulations “having a moment,” lawsuits and government entities have begun to take aim at tech and retail companies, alleging they are practicing price gouging or price-fixing. Add in a consumer whose priorities they don’t seem to understand, and it creates an environment that has retailers confused and uncertain. For now, a majority of them are relying on lowering prices to navigate the current consumer and corporate operating environment.