WMT Archives - Inflation Watch

Wal-Mart will push prices down for holiday shopping

Dr. Duru — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:23:29 +0000

CNNMoney.com is reporting that Wal-Mart will offer a price guarantee this holiday season. From Nov. 1 through Dec. 25, 2011, Wal-Mart will refund the difference if you find a lower-priced product at a competitor’s store in your local market. This program will help drive down the cost of holiday shopping for consumers and likely erase much of any pricing advantage that Wal-Mart’s competitors manage to find. Interestingly, it could also encourage retailers to push their own prices up, closer to Wal-Mart’s, given the effective lack of price advantage.

Note well that I cannot think of a single retailer who consistently charges lower prices than Wal-Mart on anything. So maybe this whole thing is more a marketing gimmick than anything else?

For more details see “Wal-Mart introduces Christmas price guarantee program.”

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Wal-Marts CEO warns consumers on inflation

Dr. Duru — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:07:03 +0000

When the nation’s low-cost leader in retail warns about rising prices, people listen. Late last night, USA Today interviewed Wal-Mart (WMT) CEO Bill Simon in an article titled “Wal-Mart CEO Bill Simon expects inflation.” Nothing in the article comes as a surprise to those of us paying attention to inflation but having Simon issue this warning gives a lot more credence to the assessment that inflation, and inflation expectations, are slowly but surely coming unhinged.

The article includes a video in which Simon notes that inflation is “starting to creep into the business.” He started seeing inflation pressures late last year in items like dairy and is now seeing it in transportation-related goods like paper. (I assume he meant goods that carry heavy transportation costs). The article also features some cautionary commentary from a retail analyst.

Key quote from Simon in the article:

“…Inflation is ‘going to be serious…We’re seeing cost increases starting to come through at a pretty rapid rate.'”

NPR blog is hosting an informal poll on inflation expectations here: “Wal-Mart CEO Sees Inflation Ahead; Do You?”

Wal-Mart's stock is still down from the beginning of 2010

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This holiday season may get more expensive for the kids

Dr. Duru — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 23:19:47 +0000

Bloomberg reports that Wal-Mart “…raised prices on hundreds of toys this month..” While these price hikes come on the heels of numerous discounts, it is still a curious development given Target and Toy R Us have been taking share from Wal-Mart in the competitive market for toys.

We will be watching whether these price hikes can be sustained through the remainder of the holiday season.

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Wal-Mart Bucks the Deflation Scare in Consumer Prices

Dr. Duru — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:27:35 +0000

It appears someone forgot to inform Wal-Mart executives about the current scare about deflation. A JP Morgan report claims that Wal-Mart has hiked prices almost 6% over the past 6 weeks. Prices of select products have increased 50-60%. It appears Wal-Mart fans will have to dust off the manuals on comparison shopping.

See: “Wal-Mart Quietly Raises Prices”

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