Wal-Mart To Match Competitor Prices
Wal-Mart is upping the holiday sales game this weekend. Starting on so-called "Black Friday," the discount retailer is matching prices in competitor ads.
"They're competing with other retailers, but they're also competing with something else. Energy costs, they know they're going up. Rising gas prices, they know it's gonna happen, too -- all the things that take consumer spending away from the stores," said WWJ and Fox 2 Business Reporter Murray Feldman.
"So, they're trying to get you while you have the money on-hand, and before the competitors do," he said.
Feldman says the Wal-Mart move is likely not the last in the gamesmanship playing out among stores trying to get you in their store. Feldman says it's likely other stores now will have to match or try to beat the Wal-Mart deal.
But, shopper beware -- Feldman says don't be surprised if when you get there, the same item or model number is not available and therefore the store can't match the competitor price.
"I'm told by insiders that, in many cases, the stores just want to bring people in. And the theory is that if the sales person can sell them on the service or the kindness or whatever, they may get the sale even without the matching price, because of some crazy restriction that they put in there," Feldman said.
Black Friday is the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas when many retailers start showing a profit -- they move from the red into the black on balance sheets.
Get a head start on your Thanksgiving weekend shopping. Check out our Black Friday Deals page at this link.
