Christmas Sticker Shock...or Savings?

I read an article on yahoo today that sent fireworks off in my head. Happy firework displays and little, but alarming ones. Wal-Mart has a new holiday strategy to lure you away from the competition. http://news.yahoo.com/wal-mart-ups-ante-holiday-price-matching-070217877.html They are taking their price matching policy to the extreme! They are going to match the lowest price of any competitor store (including deals from Black Friday and Doorbusters) and they are going to price-match from from November 1-December 25. the customer will get the difference back in the form of a in-store gift card.

That seems pretty cool in a multitude of ways. For example, what if Barbie's dream car is normally $249. Hypothetically speaking, for Black Friday, it goes on sale for $149 at Target. If Wal-Mart has the product, you buy it there for $149, show them the competitor ad, and they'll give you a $100 gift card. That's like handing you an additional $100 for other Christmas shopping or groceries! They are definitely trying to drag the customer base back home to Mama!

In a practical sense, that is going to be hard to compete with for the stores that have most of the same non-food items as the big W! Many customers are loyal to Target, Fred Meyer, Shopko, Walgreens', Rite-Aid, and others, because they seem to have a different clientele and volumes more people on the aisles. But fiscal crunches are making even the snobbiest consumer reconsider the costs of much wanted Christmas trivialities or gifts for the fam!

And the large retailer is making it as simple as possible for the fiscally smart shopper! "... With the latest incentive, Wal-Mart is offering an even more hassle-free way of guaranteeing shoppers they'll get the best price and giving shoppers more of a reason to go to Wal-Mart first for their holiday needs.

Shoppers don't have to bring back purchases to Wal-Mart in order to take advantage of better prices elsewhere. They just need to bring in the receipt and the local printed ad to the customer service desk."

Wal-Mart brought back their layaway program for the holiday season as well. For many that don't want to go into debt for gifts but don't have the cash to buy everything they want before the shelves are cleared--this is an awesome way to "pay as you go" with your holiday buys. [Beware of "fees" that go along with this kind of deal and the money down that is required for start-ups.] But Wal-Mart is doing another smooth deal for the layaway customers with their extreme price-matching program.

"Furthermore, even items placed on layaway will be eligible for the company's "Christmas Price Guarantee" program. Wal-Mart is also hoping to tap into another stream of revenue — by giving shoppers the price difference in the gift cards, it's hoping customers will come back and spend more than the value of the card."

So any way you cut it--I think you know that Wal-Mart wants your business. Watch for other great deals coming your way this holiday season. It's not like stores not to offer the public some friendly competition. Now you have multiple places that you can ascertain your hauln before G-day!