Wal-Mart raising prices online shows how the retailer is different from Amazon, strategists say.
Wal-Mart has started making some items more expensive online than in stores to try to drive people into stores, The Wall Street Journal reports. The strategy could help the retailer stop losing money on sales that weren't profitable in the first place, said Avery Sheffield, Brandywine Global portfolio manager.
That's the tension between the two, Pro4ma founder and CEO Liz Dunn said: Amazon is focused on topline growth, and Wal-Mart needs to make money.
"I think Amazon will continue to take market share because they are kind of playing by their own rules and I think that digital will continue to take market share from stores. Amazon will get an outsize portion of that share, and I think Wal-Mart needs to make money," Dunn said on "Closing Bell."
Wal-Mart displays online prices and in-store prices for some items on its website and gives customers the option to shop online and pick up in-store with the less expensive price. That online sticker shock may actually help boost Wal-Mart's image when customers go into stores and see how much cheaper prices are, Sheffield said.