Gary Severson, Wal-Mart's chief of electronics and toys, says his company now offers the lowest price on flat TVs 88 percent of the time. But he's not satisfied with that.
"We're working on that
other 12 percent rapidly, believe me," Severson said at
Wal-Mart's analyst meeting on Monday, according to a
Reuters report.
Today at Walmart.com, the retailer was selling a
Panasonic 42-inch Plasma HDTV for $1,698 ($100 less than
what you would pay for the same model at
Bestbuy.com); and a Sanyo 42-inch Plasma high-def set
for $1,397 (wasn't available at BestBuy.com or
Circuitcity.com.)
Severson said Wal-Mart's sales of flat TVs have tripled
in the last year, thanks to the low prices.
The Wal-Mart executive made his remarks while describing
how the retailer plans to aggressively promote consumer
electronics during the holiday season. In addition to
flat-screen TVs, Wal-Mart will seek to boost sales of
MP3 players, laptops and video game consoles.
Reuters reports that some Wall Street analysts are
concerned that Wal-Mart's increased push into
electronics could hurt profits of traditional CE
retailers Best Buy and Circuit City. But one analyst
said the "big box" retailers have a better understanding
of how to reach the tech-savvy consumer.
"So when the stocks decline over the new improved
Wal-Mart approach to consumer electronic selling,
remember, there will be a Christmas, and we would expect
our consumer electronic players to be a part of it,"
Credit Suissee analyst Gary Balter said.