Despite the threat of rising food costs with the current drought in the United States, your prices at the grocery store may go down. According to the New York Times, supermarket chains Kroger and Safeway are instituting new prices based on the behaviors of specific customers.
The new system measures specific consumer buying habits and then gives products a customer buys on a normal basis lower prices, but only for that customer. The idea is to make consumers buy more of a certain product that markets know they have an interest in. Grocers are also working to send customers individualized coupons that apply to products they have been known to buy.
This pricing model, if successful is expected to spread to grocery chains across the country, and could totally displace standardized pricing.