Walmart says it’s going to cut prices 10-30% in order to help “cash-strapped consumers” and keep them “excited about shopping.”
“We all know economic times are tough so our plan is to help with added savings throughout the year, focusing especially on what people want, when they need it,” said John Fleming, Wal-Mart’s chief merchandising officer.
Translated from “marketing” into “human” this sentence reads: “Please buy chicken wings and big screen TVs for the SuperBowl. We’re having a sale. Thanks.”
Wal-Mart chops prices in bid to lure shoppers [CNNMoney] (Thanks, Tino!)
(Photo:kandh07)
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Hasn’t anybody noticed that Wal-Mart’ses prices have increased a great deal in the past year or 18 months? In my part of the world, eggs are 2.5X the price they were less than a year ago; milk is 50% more, and butter about 40% more. A bottle of Cheer detergent that was less than $4 a year ago now costs about $7. Their housewares cost more too. I wanted to get a new colander, and the cheapest one they had was $7. A shower caddy was $8, even though I got a similar one at a dollar store for $2. Wal-mart red bell peppers are $2 each and carrots a dollar a pound. There’s a supermarket near me that charges 40 c for a RBP and 50 c a lb for carrots.
So WM can probably charge 10%-30% less and still squeak by.
@SaraAB87: I work there… no they do not. They offer free chiropractic services if you have been hurt as part of your workers comp.
And we aren’t any more at risk than WalMart merchandisers/inventory workers/stockers (what, you think the boxes get off the trucks themselves, and then on the shelves themselves?)
In fact they are probably more at risk because I am sure we are trained better.
Jus’ sayin. Many companies offer their employees the benefits they deserve… and are still plenty profitable.
I wish I lived back in the day when companies had a sense of humanitarianism… a sense of belonging to a community (not just taking everything it can from the community and leaving if they can’t rip it off anymore)… etc… etc.
We can continue the lovely cycle of stupidity that is known as the US Economy. Since the Senate only wants to hand out 100$ checks, we now know its not for naught. We can still afford substandard products at Wal-Mart.
I laughed when I saw this, Wal-Mart’s certainly got a high opinion of itself. As other people have said it’s not really cheaper, it advertises specials and has *certain* key items at lower prices so that it’s perceived to be cheaper.
Even if they have something I need for less or are closer, I still refuse to go because I disagree with their practices and how they treat their employees. Why does this matter here? The Consumerist is about voting with your dollar; usually companies that take care of their employees, take care of their consumers.
@SkyeBlue: I agree–Walmart started that trend and other stores followed. I get my $4 drugs from Target because it’s more convenient to me, but I also commend Wal-mart for stepping up and starting this. I know a couple of seniors who are really grateful for this because of the high number of generics they are on.
Walmart buys and sells lots of domestic products.
Obviously no sportsmen/women here: Cheapest place to buy any ammunition without catching a major sale: Walmart. And it’s Winchester, Federal, etc. All made in America by Americans.
Walmart does nothing that millions of corporations haven’t done before. The difference that makes Walmart successful is quite simply logistics. I say again, not screwing the little man and poor illegal employees, logistics. Putting products on shelves faster than competitors. Putting MORE products in LESS space. Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency…
I got no beef with Walmart. Most smart people don’t either.
@AndyRogers: I have done many a case study on WalMart being I am a Logistics, Transportation, and Supply Chain Management major… so cheers to giving their logistics a rep. It IS in fact very good.
But that does not negate the fact that they also edge out competition using strong arm practices and treating their employees unfairly.
Why does everybody blame Wal-Mart? I used to think that way until I worked at M*CY*S for the Christmas season. I found ONE THING made in the USA. They did have more variety of countries though. Israel for children’s clothes. Anyway, Big chains are all the same. I still couldn’t take my minimum wage check and buy as much with my employee discount there as I could somewhere else. Namely Amazon.(Let me just say this was on top of my full time job, I didn’t want ANY debt because of Christmas)
@chrrey103: Oh let me add they made us work without breaks (just to use the bathroom) and supervisors disappeared when it was time to go home. I did not get health insurance being seasonal but according to the full time people they tried to keep them just under full time so they didn’t get it. Again, they are all the same but Hey my kids Christmas was awesome and I owe nothing.
i can only afford to shop at walmart due to disability, so this is good news for me. all of you who trash walmart, dont shop there, for some of us they are great.
@ffmariners:
I was in the “logistics biz” for a while too and miss it. I was an Army Transportation Corps officer and moved all kinds of stuff (people, equipment, fuel, etc.) throughout Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgistan (sp?), Iraq and Kuwait by air, sea and land. When you live and work in broken logs system like the Army’s, you REALLY begin to admire top notch systems like Walmart, DHL, FedEx, etc. Our tech guys had a saying they were fond of in the sandbox: “FedEx is faster than fiber.”
Logistics is a REALLY fascinating science that, unfortunately, most people take for granted.
One of the reasons Wal-Mart’s prices are low is because they usually get municipalities to subsidize their sales and property taxes, security and emergency response systems among other things. (This practice is not restricted to Wal-Mart).
As I said in one of my earlier comments, Walmart is all Americans will be able to afford the way this economy is going.
@suburbancowboy: Walmart has been RAISING prices ever since they got everyone hooked on their low prices. We switched over to them as our weekly store because everything was so much lower. Then the creep started.
First just a few items started raising. We thought, OK not bad. Then more and more. Now it’s crazy. Our weekly food bill has risen 25% in the last year. We are going back to our old store. A new trick they do is the computer scans higher than advertised prices but because you are busy bagging your groceries you never catch it.
When we discovered this, on a staple, we went back through our receipts and they had done it for 2 months. We asked for our money back. The very next week, they stopped carrying the item altogether.
Everyone needs to show Walmart we are not stupid. Quit shopping there!