Summary
Walmart continues to lower prices on thousands of items and will continue to do so as traffic is much needed. I have found over the past 2 weeks many items that are 20-30% higher at Target. I guess customers will have to choose whether saving money is more important than status or sometimes location. There has to be that fine line drawn somewhere between who needs to save money and who doesn't. Higher gas prices, home heating costs this winter, and food prices will determine who and when they cross that line. Walmart cannot be beat when it comes to pricing, and never will. If people ever started going to Dollar General, Family Dollar, or Dollar Tree, then Walmart would really be challenged. Right now they are challenged with cleaning up their stores, hiring people who really care about the customer, and bringing more management personnel from the outside to get away from the cookie cutter approach that has gotten them here.
Analysis
As a consultant for the retail industry; more importantly with the Dollar industry, Walmart is saving families across this country millions of dollars daily. It is what it is and they cannot be all things to all people. When they build a Walmart people come no matter where they build because people know they will save money. Not only are their prices cheaper, they are providing the consumer with higher priced quality merchandise daily and will continue to do so.
