Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (branded as Walmart) plans to cut prices more aggressively during this year’s back-to-school season and will add inventory to its online store, as the chain battles retailers for student spending.
Walmart will reduce prices on 10 per cent more items this year, said Steve Bratspies, the company’s executive vice-president for US general merchandise. The number of back-to-school items that Walmart sells online will grow 30 per cent to 75,000, he said.
“Price is going to be extremely important for us, as it always is,” Bratspies said in a phone interview. “It’s about the best prices in the market on a large assortment.”
US households are planning to spend an average of 5 per cent more during this year’s back-to-school season, the National Retail Federation said last week. Still, the total spending level will decline slightly, to $26.5 billion, because the student population is smaller this year. For retailers, the July-through-September period is second only in importance to the year-end holiday season.
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is dropping its prices at the beginning of the back-to-school rush and will leave them at that level for the whole season, Bratspies said. It’s also offering teachers a 10-per-cent refund on their out-of-pocket classroom spending, he said. That’s a first for the Arkansas-based chain.
Bratspies declined to discuss current sales trends, citing the retailer’s second-quarter earnings release, coming up in mid-August. The industry’s sales have been uneven this year, with chains frequently using discounts and promotions to entice shoppers.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM
