Walmart Rushes Out Holiday Deals -- a Week Before Halloween -- 2nd Update
October 23 2019 - 4:23PM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah Nassauer
Walmart Inc. will start advertising holiday discounts online
this week, moving up the competition to attract holiday shoppers as
retailers brace for a shorter shopping season between Thanksgiving
and Christmas this year.
Walmart.com will offer discounts on toys, electronics and other
holiday gifts this Friday at midnight -- nearly a week before
Halloween. Stores will still have a Halloween feel until after Oct.
31, said Steve Bratspies, chief merchandising officer for Walmart
U.S., but on walmart.com it will start to feel like Christmas
sooner.
Black Friday falls on Nov. 29 this year, a week closer to
Christmas Day than last year. That leaves Walmart and other retail
chains with a smaller window to get shoppers to stores or to place
orders online.
As more shopping moves online, many chains no longer wait for
Black Friday to begin advertising discounts and what are known as
doorbuster deals. In previous years, Walmart, along with Amazon.com
Inc., Best Buy Co., Target Corp. and others, have pushed holiday
discounts on their websites for weeks before Thanksgiving.
Target intends to wait until November to start highlighting
holiday deals, Chief Executive Brian Cornell said at a media event
in New York.
"Every day is going to count," said Mr. Cornell, who predicted a
steadier pace of shopping during the shorter season. In a more
typical year, he said, "there is this very strong start and then
there is this period of time the consumer almost takes a breath,
takes a break knowing they've got a couple of additional weekends
to shop."
Walmart is shifting how it flows inventory to stores and manages
staffing amid the intensity of a buying period that is shorter by
six days, Mr. Bratspies said on a conference call Wednesday. "It
certainly will be a more intense time in stores and online because
customers don't necessarily think about these six days. We plan for
them. It tends to sneak up on them."
The initial offers Walmart is highlighting this Friday aren't
the deepest discounts or hottest holiday items. For example, the
company is touting a $100 discount on a Vizio 55-inch television
and a $30 savings on a Faberware oil-less fryer.
Walmart is working to grab more market share in the toy and
electronics categories this season and has allocated more space to
toys in stores in the past year and a half, said Mr. Bratspies.
Last year Toys "R" Us Inc. closed all its stores ahead of the
holiday season, leaving those sales to Walmart, Target and
others.
Target plans to spend more to staff stores this year than in
previous years to attract shoppers with improved customer service
and extra staff for its online delivery and store-pickup options,
the company said. It plans to hire 130,000 seasonal workers this
year, up from 120,000 in 2018.
Walmart and Target have been posting strong sales in their U.S.
stores in recent quarters, boosted by the strong U.S. economy and
store closures by some competitors. Overall, retailers expect a
strong holiday shopping season, despite concerns about trade
disputes and tariffs on Chinese imports.
The National Retail Federation, which represents retailers
including Walmart and Amazon, is forecasting holiday sales will
rise in a range of 3.8% to 4.2% -- to about $730 billion.
The NRF's figures, which cover sales online and in stores from
Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 and exclude auto, gasoline and restaurant sales,
are in line with those of retail consulting firms. Sales came in
lower than the NRF's forecast last year, hurt by a federal
government shutdown.
Write to Sarah Nassauer at sarah.nassauer@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 23, 2019 17:08 ET (21:08 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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