There are only a few more days until we get Thanksgiving out of the way and can start worrying about what really matters — Black Friday. And Walmart has come out swinging in the retail battle for your holiday shopping dollars by announcing that it will offer price-matching.
According to a statement from Walmart, customers bring in competitors’ ads and the store will match the price of any identical product at the register. The price-matching offer is only good for items purchased at Walmart stores and not on Walmart.com.
We wonder if this will convince the couple who have been camping outside Best Buy to relocate to Walmart.
And while most Walmart stores are expecting the usual throng of doorbusters in the early hours of the morning, the store in Victor, NY, has said its employees will be asleep in bed.
I see….I see Consumerist headlines for Monday…”Walmart Refuses Pricematch, Customer Throws Tantrum”…
Walmart Won’t Price Match Websites; Customer Surprised
get..out..of…my…head
Let the hilarity ensue.
HA! you haven’t been here long have you? It’ll be more like “Walmart scams customer out of pricematch, customer quietly contacts corporate”
“Wal-Mart Corporate Responds; Assures Customer ‘We’re Taking It Seriously’ “
Walmart Receipt Checker Assaults Customer With Item Walmart Refused To Price-Match
This won’t end well.
Took the words right out of my mouth.
Indeed… I was planning on hitting up the local wally world for some of the midnight stuff (can’t hand that 5am doorbuster crowd) and this is going to be a fuster cluck…
So now you’ve essentially gotten the people that were going to wait at Best Buy, Target, Toys R Us, etc. to come to you earlier than most so now it will be 5x as crowded.
Add in the already flustered employees having to verify the price match, then multiply by what will surely be a fast growing line of impatient shoppers as they wait for each customer to price match 5 ads at the register.
This still doesn’t make me want to shop at Wal Mart or Walmart.com.
ahh black friday @ wally world, let the tramplings commence
They have done this for years. I’m sure they appreciate the publicity though.
“Identical Items” means that any good deals will be on things that Walmart doesn’t carry, as Walmart has most of its items given special SKU numbers.
Good call. I have worked for two manufacturers that supply to walmart, and there were special versions in both cases.
This. I worked for an eBay company that was selling Sharp TVs, and we had two separate model numbers that were exactly identical. This isn’t uncommon among retailers, and Wal-Mart is one of the big offenders. This is an empty promise from a soulless company.
Note that the price match is on identical product, and since WalMart has different model numbers for most of its product…
Since it has to be an identical product, I don’t see them really having to do too much. I doubt they’d take any loss from it. Walmart generally has their line of TV/DVD/BluRay players specifically made for them, so there wouldn’t be any identical advertising for those. Those are generally the door-buster items, I think.
Exactly what I was thinking. All stores get special “Black Friday” products, whether it is a TV with stripped down features or a different brand name. Other household goods are usually store-specific as well. The only thing this would be useful for is DVD’s, video games, and the like.
That’s the exact thing that came to my mind for most electronics. Manufacturers make store specific model numbers (with basically identical features) that makes this kind of price matching impossible.
Got to watch what you’re trying to get price matching on. Many times Wal-mart will have a certain product that is otherwise identical to a product with another retailer, but the SKU is typically unique ONLY to Wal-mart. They may say, well, the item in the ad from CompUSA may be for SKU 123456, but this product here is 123456A…
Good. I’ll buy a mattress on sale from any number of stores. What could go wrong?
Sell it to Black Market Shoppers as the ‘Trampleproof Safety Sheet!’
Rig it on your back somehow, and go about your business, knowing that your pillow-top armor will absorb the harm inflicted by unruly fellow shoppers!
Black Market?
I meant to say ‘Black FRIDAY’. Cor blimely, where’s me head at?
That Mattress model names are even more variant than electronics model numbers between competing stores?
My local Walmart won’t price match anything since most other retailers that compete are 10 miles away. Tried Local Management, Regional Management and EECB but nothing helped me there.
Wal-Mart always offers price matching if the competitor advertised a price on an item in a print ad. What’s so different about this week’s price matching? Like any other day, if you have an ad from a local competitor, Wal-Mart will let you buy the item from them at the competitor’s advertised price.
I can understand needing the ad for a special on a major purchase where they knock some extreme amount off the price, but for everyday price matching, I’ve had managers tell me it is the cashier’s job to know what the sales are at the local competitors and it is not my job to prove it, I don’t even need an ad.
I think for Black Friday they need to, and honestly probablly should require the print ad. Some items are selling for 75% or more off.
Things like toys, movies, and games specifically.
I know Wally world is blowing out some games and movies for instance, but missing some key titles that other retailers are selling for a few more. Now those customers will and can buy same item, same price at walmart.
Hell, now I might pick up Uncharted 2 for the TRU price of $15 at walmart with the $10 titles they have.
What about local coupons?
Target has an ad out right now, full of coupons.
Like $5 off and Disney BluRay off $16.99 or higher.
I wanted to use this coupon and my $8.00 off Bugs LIfe coupon at Target yesterday, but they were out of stock on Bugs LIfe.
So Will Walmart give me $5.00 off with that coupon?
not an expert but I’d guess no, I think they’d argue there is a difference between coupons and “advertised price”
We’ve gone to WalMart for price matches for the past couple of years straight. Only thing you have to fight is the crowd, not over the merchandise you want like they’re doing at Office Max/BB/etc. where the sale is.
Problem is, Walmart doesn’t always carry the same models as the others. They have a lot of cheaper made-especially-for-Walmart models
has anyone mentioned that model numbers are probably not the same at Walmart? ’cause that could be important.
GANG WAY!!!!!!!!!! MUST… GET…PIECE…OF….CRAP…AT….LOW…PRICE!!!!! *elbow* *thrust* *stomp* *shove*
Merry Xmas! happy Holidays! *smack* *grab*…
Screw that noise and pseudo-do-onto-others crapola… I’m staying at home in bed… Gonna shop for WHAT I NEED, not what I want – online… No cold car, no long lines, no bruises, no traffic, no gas, no sales tax, probably no shipping cost either…
YES!! Black Friday! I can’t wait to trample an employee to death!