Wal-Mart plans US price cut campaign
Retailer rides into battle for Christmas sales
Wal-Mart has sent a shiver through the competition by signaling plans for a price cutting campaign to recapture its share of US sales in the run-up to Christmas.
The world’s biggest retailer resisted deep discounts over the Thanksgiving weekend, and lost ground to rivals who kicked off the holiday campaign with high profile promotions. Wal-Mart’s share price slipped on Monday after it cut back its same store sales growth forecasts for November.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sharon Weber told journalists: “We are disappointed with our sales performance for the Friday after Thanksgiving and the full weekend.
“While our prices were generally as low as they have ever been, our competition was even more aggressive. We have learned from this and will move quickly to respond to what our customer has told us during the rest of the holiday season.”
While the November forecast has been cut back to 0.7 per cent, the company has not altered its forecast for fourth quarter sales growth of between 2 per cent and 4 per cent.
