Wal-Mart to expand discounted products offering in holiday season

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it would expand its offering of discounted products during the holiday season and might broaden a price-matching scheme to include online rivals, as a price war among big US retailers heats up, Reuters reported.

According to the retailer, it was bracing for competition to be tougher than even 2013, when the industry suffered lower earnings due to heavy discounting.

Profits at the retailer were down in the holiday quarter last year and it had posted six straight quarters of flat or declining same-store sales.

"It is starting to heat up right now, and I would expect it to be at least as competitive as last year," Steve Bratspies, executive vice president of general merchandise for Wal-Mart's US operations, said on a call with media on yesterday, in a reference to competition during the holiday season.

According to Wal-Mart, it had planned for 20,000 "rollbacks", or a product discounted for at least 90 days, on offer starting Saturday.

A stepping up of promotions was on at other retailers too, focused on attracting more customers online.

Earlier this month Target Corp said, it would drop shipping fees for online purchases from 22 October to 22 December.

The retailer further hoped to improve customer service, with more checkout lines during peak shopping times, executives said on a conference call yesterday, Bloomberg reported.

They added, Wal-Mart was also considering matching in-store prices with online competitors if a customer asked.

Wal-Mart would enter a crucial holiday season under chief executive officer Doug McMillon, who took the helm in February.

Following the chain cutting its full-year sales forecast this month McMillon acknowledged a better job of stocking shelves and staffing stores was needed.

Discounts would be on offer for 90 days starting with price cuts focused on electronics and toys.

A 48-inch Samsung television would be on offer at a 20 per cent discount for $348. Mattel Inc's (MAT) Barbie Dreamhouse would retail for $120, down from $149. The same kinds of promotions, which the company called ''rollbacks,'' were seen last year after Halloween.

Wal-Mart would also reduce online prices on 2 November for a 24-hour period, featuring what it described as 15 deals that would be comparable to the ones found on Black Friday.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company's shares were up 0.1 per cent to $76.45 at the close in New York yesterday, after being down 2.8 per cent this year.