Recent government inquiries, media reports, and academic studies have focused consumers’ and public policymakers’ attention on the issue of scanner pricing inaccuracy. The authors focus on what can and is being done in response to this problem. They review the legal, regulatory, and legislative response to scanner pricing inaccuracies and report the results of a study that empirically examines the efficiency of one strategy being used by legislators and retailers in reaction to the scanner accuracy issue, namely, electronic shelving systems (ESS). The results of actual purchases are used to calculate error rates and reveal that both overring and underring rates are significantly lower for stores employing scanner systems and ESS than those employing scanners alone.
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