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ABOUT THIS BLOG
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This blog will look at the winners and losers in the retail space. Who has the right strategy to capture consumer dollars? It also will look for trends in consumer spending and how that will impact the economy.
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Wal-Mart |
The world's biggest retailer Wal-Mart [WMT
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] will:
1) Cash rebate checks free of charge.
2) Allow customers to redeem checks for Moneycards free of charge.
3) Cut prices on key food items including meat, pasta, frozen food, shampoo, juice and other consumables.
Why act like a bank? None of its competitors can. Sears/Kmart [SHLD
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] , Kroger [KR
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] and Supervalu [SVU
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] require customers to spend their checks as gift cards in store. While those retailers are offering "free bonus money" to customers, Wal-Mart is negating that by flexing its pricing power as the world's biggest grocer and undercutting prices on basic food items.
Wal-Mart already cashes a million checks a week, so prepare for that number to grow. It's an interesting way for the store to expand its "mindshare" in financial services. And stay tuned for more cuts in the months to come.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes