 Greeter Thomas ‘Wal-Mart Tommy’ Plunkbender shows his commitment to WM at the announcement |
This is just so damn thoughtful and considerate of them to give back to society like this that we should just plain give them a Nobel Prize or a set of towels or something. Please note that any moran who suggests Wal-Mart might be doing this to increase sales volume and profits will be arrested and sent to Gitmo for obvious anti-American activities. |
Wal-Mart chops prices in bid to boost shopping
Wal-Mart announced Tuesday that it will chop prices between 10 to 30% this week on groceries, electronics and other home-related products in an effort to keep its cash-strapped consumers excited about shopping.
While its rivals, including Target (TGT, Fortune 500), have seen sales decelerate dramatically in recent weeks from a consumer spending slowdown, Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) has been benefiting from more shoppers trading down to its discount stores.
The world’s largest retailer recently reported that its December same-store sales rose 2.4%, which was at the high-end of its expectations for the month.
Who cares why they’re doing it? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with increasing sales volume and profit and the shopper benefits too.
Welcome to today’s random Wal-Mart bash.
Ummm…
http://memewatch.com/thelist/archives/pix/morans.jpg
’nuff said. :)~
Isn’t a large portion of the GDP calculated by consumer purchases?
Here’s a good question, if shoppers save money on purchases….who does it hurt? If they buy more stuff, they were going to blow all that money anyway. However, if they only buy what they were going to buy anyway, they save money.
Either way, the shopper either gets more stuff, or spends less money. How are they injured?
Wow, deflation already…. this is going to be a humdinger of a recession.
Uncle Dave,
That is one of the most sad, yet absolutely hilarious pictures!!!
Does Wal-Mart sell Ajax strong enough to scrub that image out of my head?
Be happy the bag didn’t stretch so the smile went lower. It’s the devil incarnate.
Walmart has a “sale” and it’s supposed to be news? So what. so now there making 200% instead of 300% profit on all that worthless chinese sheet.
7,
No. The wholesalers TO Walmart just took another 90% cut in revenue to give Walmart their 10-30% discountable items. Any of those wholesalers still in the Western world and now contemplating a shift to prison camps in China.
Walmart wants a piece of the $800 that Bush wants the public to borrow to prop up the economy still on his watch.
If you think Wal-Mart is evil you really ought to see if you can get a copy of Penn & Teller’s show Bullshit they did about them.
Only a complete idiot would complain when a store lowers it’s prices. I guess complaining about “anything” is all some people have in their miserable pathetic lives.
You complainers of lower prices need to get out more and stop living in front of your TV and computer.
Come on, people. No one is complaining about them lowering prices. We’re complaining because of the reason they gave for doing it.
#11 Fred Mercury Only a complete idiot would complain when a store lowers it’s prices.
Wal-Mart lowering prices to boost spending right now is NOT in the best interest of the consumers and the economy as it will boost imports and encourage more credit debt as in buy now before prices go back up.
The people who ultimately gain are in China who makes just about everything found in Wal-Mart and Target and so on…and holds US debt.
What the US needs right now is lower imports to address the current account deficit – and cut spending to lower personal debt.
Funny that – this is exactly how the US got so screwed in the first place. People just love low prices and companies did just that and happily shut down manufacturing in the US and made stuff in China so people can get their lower prices.
People also just love their credit cards so banks made sure that people got all the credit they need to take ‘advantage’ of the lower prices and buy more than they need.
Fred, am I and others the only ones NOT taking ‘idiot’ pills? 😉
Cheers
Of course they’re lowering prices to boost profits. Invisible Hand anyone?
However, the key to fixing this isn’t to decrease imports….it’s to decrease corporate taxes to make our products more competitive overseas and locally. Enact a free trade agreement with South Korea and other new large markets. If other countries want to levy high tariffs on our goods, we levy tariffs back, and tell them we’ll drop them when they do.
Calin – Sorry but why on Earth would South Korea want US made goods anyway? China is right next door and a 20′ container shipping costs from China is about $200~300.
By the way here is some news that you might not have heard yet. China has just now started a new policy to boost Chinese businesses exporting to select Asian countries, FREE SHIPPING!
Our new client in Jakarta, Indonesia was so surprised (us too) when there was no freight charge on our 20′ container to them from China.
We told them that this is a belated Christmas present to them from the Chinese government. They said “let’s hope it a LONG Christmas!” 🙂
Cheers
priceturbation
Main Entry: price-tur-ba-tion
Pronunciation: \ˈprīs-tər-ˈbā-shən\
1: an event that creates huge cashflow but is not very profitable. 2: Ends that do not justify the means. 3: A comment by a Wal-Mart stockholder at the annual stockholders meeting.
Great, now with more money coming in, I guess we can quit worrying about China’s economy collapsing.
Walmart has been moderating recessions for over decades. They increase employment during a recession, keeping the job losses down.
Only a Liberal would bitch because of the reason given for a company to LOWER it’s prices.
Got news for you Uncle Dave, a few million people on fixed incomes or working poor won’t give a rats ass WHY the prices are lower, only that they are lower.
Every time I go to a mainstream market and see things like a large container of coffee for 10.99 that was only 5.99 6 weeks ago, I fully understand why Wal-Mart exists and thrives.
Sometimes I wonder if some of you actually interact with everyday Americans on a face to face level, or if you’ve ever been poor or on low fixed income.
#17 qsabe said – I guess we can quit worrying about China’s economy collapsing.
It is for this reason China have moved focus to export to its Asian neighbors by implementing a FREE SHIPPING export incentive.
Joshua – I agree with your comment on that people on fixed income would welcome lower prices however that is only a short term bandaid solution to their problem.
If Wal-Mart, Target and others are concerned about those few million on fixed income then give the price reduction to only them and not a general pricing policy to increase broad based consumer buying. This helps to maintain imports and weakens the economy further.
Companies worry only about their bottom line – don’t think for one minute that they are concerned about anything else. 😉
Cheers
The party is soon over… Spend while you can… 😉
Jägermeister, so let the band keep playing? 😉
Cheers
Off topic: The snow in Shanghai has been unreal – on the ground for days with people making snowmen (ok snow-persons). Outside of Shanghai people on the highway have been stranded in cars for days. The snow couldn’t happen be at the worst time with Chinese New Year and people traveling to go to their home towns.
The photo on this site is at the Guangzhou railway station – some 600,000 people trying to get tickets!
Sorry only Chinese
http://tinyurl.com/2s89ee
Wal-Mart doing it’s little Wal-Mart thing is largely irrevelant, the problem is that the sharpest economic minds in the country seem to be fixated on the concept that only by the consumer spending him/herself into massive, brain dead debt can the economy be saved. Hey, things go up, things go down, but eventually everything levels out. The problem is that it’s impossible to “Buy American”, at any price, these days. Remember when that was the mantra? You don’t hear it anymore because the corporate gods have outsourced all they can. But what’ll they do when the consumer hits bottom, with no jobs, no money and No Credit?