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Wal-Mart dual pricing structure?!?!?! What's next?


DaleRider

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I don't know if it's capitalism at its finest. I thinking maybe greed, class warfare or corporate image. In my area, (small town in the boonies) the price is $488. I have to drive 50 - 70 miles to get the low price. If I'm going to have to do that, I might as well go to BB or CC. I could see slightly different prices but $110 is pretty big.

If it was me I would drive the 50 - 70 miles and go to BB or CC.

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Our price will be $488 but the price is the same for all WMs in our area. Oh well, I guess it was wishful thinking to get the lower price. I am a little bummed but it won't affect my BF shopping as I wasn't going to get one anyway, but mom was. I'm sure she still will because don't have any BBs, CCs, or any other big electronics stores anywhere near here. I'm sure this is not the first time it has happened, just the first time we have noticed. I will still do most of my BF shopping at WM, because it's not the local stores fault.
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There has always been price differences among WMs. I remember buying diapers at one over the other to get a cheaper price. I would expect nothing different when it comes to all their products. WM is not my favorite store, but I must admit that I save a lot of money by doing my weekly shopping there over any other store (not to mention it's 3 miles from my home).
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I hate to tell you, as posted earlier (shirleyb), this isn't an entirely new idea, we're just more aware of it. That is why when you go to view a retailer's circular online, most of them request your zip code. I'm not sure that I've seen a store do this from the top down to a store by store level. However, it is WM, and they have Terabytes of info to review. :book:

 

In addition to competition, I wonder if WM is using last years BF sales figures to find the poorest performers and try to give them a boost? :g_think:

 

There have been articles over the last few years that checked prices in different stores of the same chain, in the same city and found different prices. Apparently local mgrs sometimes have the authority (or can ask for it) to lower individual items prices to better compete with other stores. I believe that Target & Kroger were used as examples. Also, each location can change it's product mix to fit it's market demographics.

 

 

Saturnboy01 - great line about dalerider :rotflol: and many others will be doing it to!

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Its crap! Walmart is a chain and should charge the same everywhere.

All of the chains charge different prices in different areas. Where you live in Texas, for instance, I'd be willing to bet you pay less for everyday products than I do here in New Jersey. Do you want to pay prices that are influenced by NYC rent costs when you live in Texas where there's plenty of land for the deer and the antelope to roam? :) Of course Wal-mart doesn't have any stores in NYC, but I'm just giving you an example of how the cost to do business differs in different areas.

 

There is nothing inherently wrong with what Wal-mart is doing, they're a profit-motivated business like any other, so they use the strategy that they feel will make them the most profit. That is their duty to their investors.

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FYI, we just spoke to a manager at our walmart and they are going to honor the lower prices if you bring in the add... Good luck!

This is what I was wondering if I go to the wm 30 min up the road and get the ad does my closer wm have to honor the price since I will have the wm ad in hand?

Also the 30 min wm has that flyer for the 5 dollar cd's any ideas if this will work?

 

Mandy

TX

:runaway:

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FYI, we just spoke to a manager at our walmart and they are going to honor the lower prices if you bring in the add... Good luck!

You might want to verify whether they expect the ad directly from the newspaper, or if they'd accept it printed off the Internet. And that's a BIG YMMV situation... I'm not even sure if I'd count on that same Wal-mart you spoke to honoring what they said. Not because they are evil, but because miscommunications happen. I'm always wary of what an employee tells me that is not part of their written policies.

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I don't think local laws are the force behind the walmart price differences to the degree that they are. I highly doubt Walmart's cost is above $450 per laptop so the $488 as listed in some areas would be that of all places not $378 & $388. Moreso it done by competition for one and time period in a given area. If there is a lot of competition they would sell lower(not by store but area) to capture the greatest percentage of the consumers dollar as they can while forcing the competition out of business(preditor tactics...) but then after competition leaves an area they would be allowed to play with the prices a bit more and slowly start jacking up the prices.

 

Some examples....

On one side of town the same dairy product found at walmart is $1.50 in an area with a lot of competition while in an area where they forced kmart almost out of business already and have put kohls and sentry out of business they are upto $2.39......the prices have been climbing in 10 cent or smaller increments over the last year while the price on the otherside of town remains constant.

 

A couple years ago a walmart was built up by my parents...rural community and within 2yrs the kmart who's lot was full all the time along with the local hardware stores went from full to empty. The problem with the small town is not only did kmart close it's doors but the local's who owned those small businesses and were put out of business by walmart are now on the town board and are refusing to let walmart put in a supercenter so they can put three grociery stores out of business.

 

Yes walmart does provide jobs.....ones that have crap pay, lots of part-time(without benefits), and you work around "Sam".

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I highly doubt WalMart's cost is above $450 per laptop

It actually is closer to $650. When they came in last week I scanned the barcode. At $488, the laptops were going to be sold at a 24.5% loss. $378 in some areas makes it closer to 45% markdown, I believe (don't have a calculator handy).

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It actually is closer to $650. When they came in last week I scanned the barcode. At $488, the laptops were going to be sold at a 24.5% loss. $378 in some areas makes it closer to 45% markdown, I believe (don't have a calculator handy).

True. Because its NOT WM's brand its a name brand so they cannot really set the price it would be set my the manufact. :woot2:

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The day to day pricing is dictated by the closest local competitors. In a major city you go to the closest Target, Meijer, KMart, Kroger, etc. So each store may have a different price based on that or quantity in stock. It's called store of the community representing the best value in that community for the customer. Most everything if not all of the black friday items are sold at a loss (below cost) ,where allowed ,to bring the customers in because if you treat them right they will come back to you. We ad match and do the research to offer the lower price before you have to ask in some instances. Who else does that for their customers?
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It actually is closer to $650. When they came in last week I scanned the barcode. At $488, the laptops were going to be sold at a 24.5% loss. $378 in some areas makes it closer to 45% markdown, I believe (don't have a calculator handy).

loss leaders....and aiming on head hunting the competition.

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So you mean to tell me that BB is not selling there 149.00 dollar desktop under cost in Wi? Walmart dictates price on the demographic area its in. Trust me. Janesville Wi is a GM town with over 5000 people employed just there and not including the other 100 companys that make parts for them. There for people spend more money here than 10 minutes away in Beloit Wi. Where alot of jobs have been lost and the town does not have the greatest rep. No offense. Things are cheaper there to keep the people coming. Now look at the adds for Lake Genava or Delevan Wi. Very rich towns. Axel Rose has a house there also once home to the playboy mansion. The prices on somethings are higher than Janesville. :fedora:
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I called Walmart corporate office today, and they told me that local competition was indeed the reason the laptop at my store is 488, not 378. There is no competition here, so they know they can gouge this town's customers for the higher price. I don't remember any regional difference in last year's BF prices anywhere, am I wrong? Anyway, my mom lives in Central Texas between Temple and Waco. Temple and Waco, 378. Marlin, 22 miles from Waco, 488. My mom is going to wait in line at CC for me, since my price here would be higher at my local WM for the HP.
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Laptops are 638 in Eau Claire, WI. There is a best buy, Target, Office Depot, and the mall in less then a mile radius. As Cwilliams said if bb is selling 149 dollar desktops then it's just walmart. By the way the Game boy advance is 58.42 so I won't be getting that and also the portable DVD player is 83.64. If it wasn't for the 5 dollar care bears I probably wouldn't go to WalMart at all. Who knows I'm still waiting for the Shopko Ad depending on them I might move walmart down on my list. I bet Walmarts in Wisconsin lose a lot of buisness to BB and the other office stores on Friday.
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I'm in a small town about 30 miles from Bentonville, Arkansas. We have NO Wal-Mart competitors and we are getting the $378 laptop. I know the ads online seem confusing, but the extra electronics and toys ads are addendums that WM has issued as comp prices. Ask the manager at your local Wal-Mart. My husband is manager for the store here and he said stores should honor the lower price no matter what the ad for the local store says. He would! Get a hold of a real WM ad that advertises the lower price, then go talk to the manager. Around here, they are really good about doing their customers right!
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We have the $398 desktop and the $378 laptop.

 

The Walmart that is 7 miles from me, will have the extra toy ad..the one with the make your own light saber for $21..but my Walmart won't have it. It did say it was a 2 day sale though. So maybe I can get there before it sells out. :confused:

 

I wish we would get a Target.. then I could tell Walmart to bite me. :fryingpan

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