Wal-Mart Reveals Web-Focused 'Black Friday' Plans
Wal-Mart Stores unveiled Thanksgiving holiday sales plans, which focus heavily on using its Web site to publicize its discount prices and kick off the extended holiday shopping weekend.
The world's largest retailer has said it would post online-only deals on the Web site on Thanksgiving, which can be purchased the same day.
On Monday, it revealed some of those deals. For example, it will offer Microsoft's Zune 30 gigabyte MP3 video player for $98.87, which it says is about 25 percent off, and a Garmin Nuvi 650 Portable global positioning system for $298.87, a savings of more than 30 percent, it says.
Wal-Mart also said Monday that it will post special "secret" deals on its Web site on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, that can then be purchased in stores on Friday -- commonly referred to as "Black Friday," which kicks off the holiday shopping season.
Those "secret" deals are not published in its advertising circulars.
The online push comes as Wal-Mart works to incorporate its Web site more closely with its stores, and boost lagging sales in the United States.
This year, it rolled out a "Site to Store" program, which allows customers to order products on the Web site and have them shipped to a local Wal-Mart store for free. When the merchandise is picked up, Wal-Mart said customers wind up spending more money in the store.
In an interview earlier this month, Walmart.com CEO Raul Vazquez said that while overall U.S. online holiday sales this year are expected to rise about 20 percent, Walmart.com's sales should jump between 40 percent and 60 percent.
CNBC.com contributed to this article.
