"Helping families deliver an amazing Christmas doesn't start on Black Friday, it starts now," said Duncan Mac Naughton, chief merchandising officer for Walmart U.S.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Walmart Stores Inc. is hoping to be your main holiday retailer by being the first store you shop at this holiday. Starting Saturday, Nov. 1, Walmart's 4,300 U.S. stores will be decked out in Christmas reds and greens and offering 20,000 rollbacks to tempt holiday shoppers.
The deals include: XBox One at $349 (normally $399); Samsung 46-inch HDTV for $528 ($50 off), and Dell Inspiron Touch 15.6" Laptop PC for $479 ($70 off).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures will be $15.88 (normally $19.97), Disney "Frozen" Light-up Dresses will be $28.88 (down from $34.97), and 16-inch Schwinn Cosmo or Twilight bicycles will cost $69 (normally $78.80).
"Helping families deliver an amazing Christmas doesn't start on Black Friday, it starts now," Duncan Mac Naughton, chief merchandising officer for Walmart U.S. said in a statement. "As soon as they put away their Halloween costumes, our customers start prepping for Thanksgiving, buying Christmas trees and shopping for gifts. They want the best deals now and we're here for them today, next week and throughout the season."
With 140 million consumers every week, 65 percent of whom have mobile phones, Walmart said it knows what shoppers want and how they like to buy it.
"We think we do it better than anyone else in the market," said Steve Bratspies, executive vice president, general merchandise for Walmart U.S., during a media call-in with journalists."We have more rollbacks than we did last year across a broader selection of categories." Walmart said it will offer 7 million items for the 2014 holidays -- 1 million more than it had last year.
Retailers are under greater pressure than ever this holiday season, as more stores offer omnichannel shopping options, including mobile apps that let users compare prices and order items on their phones while standing in their competitors' stores.
Walmart didn't answer questions about its Black Friday plans, holiday shopping hours or whether it will expand its ad match guarantee to online items, but said those announcements are coming.
To win over more shoppers this year, Walmart is offering:
-- Same-day in-store pickup at no extra charge, while supplies last.
-- Free shipping on the Top 100 Gifts from its Walmart.com website, with delivery guaranteed by Christmas Eve. Or free shipping to customers' homes for orders of at least $50.
-- A "Search My Store" feature on its mobile app that tells customers where items, including groceries, can be found in-store. The app is available on Android phones, but an iPhone version is coming soon.
"If you were to search for 'mustard,' you could go to your local store, enter your ZIP code, and it will pull up literally the aisle where that's located and reviews of those items," said Phillip Oaks, vice president, merchandising for Walmart.com.
-- Shortly after midnight PST on Monday (3 a.m. EST), Walmart will offer 15 Black-Friday, Cyber-Monday-type deals: including a 40-inch Element LED HDTV for $199 (down from $298); $100 off a Sony 48" LED HDTV for $348; $79 for a Nintendo 2DS handheld video game system (normally $129); and Barbie Dreamhouse for $120 (instead of $148.82).
-- Starting Nov. 7, it will launch a Toy Wish List for Santa, where children can add items from Walmart's digital Toy Book and share the list via email and Facebook.
-- On peak shopping days between Nov. 26 and Dec. 24, Walmart will open and staff all of its checkout lanes between noon and 6 p.m. at its Supercenters and discount stores.