“An aggressive Wal-Mart Stores Inc. advertising campaign that claims better prices than specific, named competitors has rankled rivals, which have complained to attorneys general in more than half a dozen states,” Ann Zimmerman and Shelly Banjo report for The Wall Street Journal.
“Best Buy said some of Wal-Mart’s promotions, including a deal on the iPhone 5, had a measurable effect on its profits due to a price-match guarantee that requires the retailer to match the price of competitor’s ads,” Zimmerman and Banjo report. “Best Buy said it lost about $65,000 in profit the day Wal-Mart’s promotion first ran on Facebook, because it was compelled to match Wal-Mart’s advertised $150 price, even though it concluded that Wal-Mart didn’t actually have a sufficient number of iPhones available.”
Zimmerman and Banjo report, “[Walmart] said it shipped double the amount of iPhones during the promotion and that it was 98% in stock at stores that carried the devices. Wal-Mart declined to say how many iPhone 5s its stores carried during the promotion.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
Related article:
Walmart offering Apple iPhone 5 for $127, iPhone 4S for $47, iPad (4th gen.) for $399 – December 14, 2012
Memo to Best Buy: Don’t offer a price match guarantee unless you’re going to honor your competitor’s price, and don’t b*tch when your customers on you to honor it. At least you made the sale, which means you got your cut from the mobile service provider instead of Walmart getting that money.
Actually, it could be a brilliant strategy to undermine your competitors. If they have a price-match guarantee, then offer a super-low price with limited inventory, and watch them lose.
That is also illegal.
$65,000 sounds like chump change for an outfit like Bogus Buy.
If BB brings in their lawyers, it will cost them more than that.
So they complain to the government, and spend taxpayer – that’s you and me – money.
Is this for real?
The federal governments push for insurance exchanges will likely have a measurable effect on my profits due to the fact that they now want to be the Broker and collect the commissions.
Can I complain to the Attorney General as well??
Keith, Have NO idea what you are talking about…
Just a thought,
en
Keith you are ignorant.
Best buy do you need a Whaaaambulence?
One thing about Walmart, they tend to only have like 5 items of whatever they have a sale on during the christmas season, I think that they should state the number available in stores because usually they just have enough so people flock to the store, but only a couple people get it and your screwed. If your going to put something on sale, you should have the normal amount of inventory of that item as you normally do. Not reduce it before the sale starts.
Wal-Mart : The most evil entity on earth. They make Google look good. They have no conscience and they put everybody they can out of business. When Walmart comes to town small businesses evaporate. They pay their employees next to nothing and provide phony health insurance. They are truly evil. Walmart is trying to open a store in Burbank. The community is trying to fight them but they will simply buy the politicians as they do in all cities that try to resist. Walmart is worse than Google and Samsung combined. If you want to vent your hatred and energy towards something truly evil, go after Walmart.
Right. Who wants a store that is killing its competition, pays low wages, and sells mostly Chinese made goods?
But enough about Apple….
Home Run! Nicely said! The Apple/Walmart model is used by everyone who is out to make huge margins with little if any concern for ethics and human rights.
Oh, horseshit. Go to a Walmart, then go to an Apple store and try to tell me there’s any comparison.
Depends on what aspect you are comparing.
And besides, GOOGLE can’ be THAT bad….
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/google-dodges-bullet-as-ftc-closes-probe-85724.html?hp=l7
GM – then don’t buy anything from WalMart. If employees feel mistreated then they should leave. Go work for Costco, Target or K-Mart.
Of course this has nothing to do with the original post, does it?
Best Buy is complaining because their competitor sells for less? Oh well. Good news for consumers.
Except it doesn’t sound like Wal-Mart is actually selling for less (at least in any quantity). Wal-Mart is ADVERTISING a lower price but don’t actually have more than a handful in stock.
BTW, thinking of this, isn’t it a law that if a store advertises a sale price but doesn’t have the item in stock they have to provide a rain-check? Or am I imagining this ?
You beat me too it, although something similar happened to me at an Ikea store and they refused to issue me a rain check. Go figure?
Yeah, this is called ‘Capitalism’ and it used to be taught in schools where the Consumer rules the economy, not the government.
Also, oddly enough, I bought TWO iPhone 4Ss for Christmas presents from Best Buy for $50 each and was tempted to buy a 5 for $150. It wasn’t until a few days later that I saw Wal-Mart had theirs on sale too. Strangely, it was BB who had their sale plastered on all the Mac forums. Hmmm…..
I’m on the fence which company I dislike more: Walmart or Best Buy….
What’s absurdly ridiculous about this complaint is that the discount was just $50, which is less than 10% (actually, 7.6%) off an iPhone full price. With practically daily discounts of 10% for various things, and frequent 20% discounts (and even higher), one would imagine that discounting a product by 7.6% from its full retail price would be negligible for a business such as Best Buy… (for those who don’t quite understand what I’m talking about: full iPhone price is $650. Consumer pays a $200 down-payment and the rest in installments through the carrier. At the time of purchase, the carrier pays the retailer the full difference).
Best Buy employees are suppose to verify that the item is in stock at the competitor before doing a price match. I’ve had to stand there waiting for them to make that call before.
Either Best Buy employees didn’t do there job or the local Wal-Mart had the item in stock.
Actually, Wal-Mart had the 16gb iPhone 5 advertised on the website for in-store only at $187, with $60 credit given in store for final price of $127. Verified that the Wal-Mart closest to my local Best Buy had at least some of these in stock, and had Best Buy match…then applied Reward points and a couple of gift cards I had been holding onto.
What’s even better than having an iPhone5? Having an iPhone 5 and listen to your friends exclaim, “You got it for how much?!?”.
It’s not just BB. In online news elsewhere it’s been reported that other b&m retails have filed complaints with DAs in various states. It appears Walmart may have engaged in the type shenanagins that got them into legal trouble some years back and that ended up with Target winning a lawsuit against them.