Black Friday Begins: Walmart Stores To Match Amazon Prices

Black Friday, the day that holiday shoppers either love or hate, is quickly approaching. While a number of retailers, both physical and online, have already begun announcing some of their big deals to be available come November 28th, Walmart is getting an early start in this year's challenge to internet rival Amazon. As of November 14th, all Walmart retail stores are now price-matching with anything available on Amazon.com.

Even better for shoppers is that this policy goes beyond just Amazon, and applies to almost any online retailer, including Best Buy, Toys R Us, Target, Walgreens, Home Depot, JC Penney, Petco, and many more. The same goes for Walmart.com, should there be some item that has a better deal on the retailer's website than in its physical stores.

This price-matching initiative actually isn't that new, as roughly half of Walmart's nearly 5,000 U.S. stores were already doing so. But the company says it was mostly on an informal basis, and this update makes it official for all store managers to adhere to. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon commented that it was a priority for the company to be a price leader, something that "is even more important during the holiday season."

Such a move on Walmart's part seems like it would be common sense in this day and age, and it's a bit surprising the price-matching policy hasn't been official before now. During this holiday period, it's likely that physical retailers are plagued with shoppers who come check out a product in person, but instead of buying there they look online for better prices. This could be the way for Walmart to sway purchases from Amazon, at least until in-store stock runs out.

VIA BGR

SOURCE Walmart