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.”