Well they do often have cheaper prices then most electonic shops, but if you want warranties (or someone who knows what they are talking about) just take the price to any other retailer and they'll beat it...
Many retailers will not price match similar but not identical products.
This works to the consumer's disadvantage when it comes to house brands, even if the TV innards are the same, another store might not price match because the label is different.
I have never really had this problem... if a procuct is similar enough (and in the same model year) then I have always been able to price match. Even though price match policies always insist on these things, if you are ready to take your business elsewhere (and it makes sense in terms of margin that they are still making) then they will always do it... especially if your wanting to deal with them so that you can buy their extended warranty!
My Wal-Mart has 2, 42" plasma's (one hi-def), 5 CRT RP's, and one DLP. They just got ~8 types of LCD TV's from 13-23" They had a 23" HD LCD for $1300! Also, about 3 HD CRT tubes. No good DVD players, HTiB's, etc. - yet...
The company I work for is a vendor to Walmart. What I know about the way they do business keeps me out of their stores. I will NOT spend one single red cent in a walmart or sam's club store, period.
I wish I could be like that Dean_S, some items I have purchased from there have been half of other sources I could find. That is about the only time I buy there.
Dean_S, I've heard a lot of vendors complain about Wal-Mart so what exactly is the vendors bitch with them? Do they pay their bills on time? or are they like the government who pays their vendors when they get around to it.
yea my superwalmart is carrung plasmas, lcds, RPs, all kinds of shit in a cheaply thrown together corner of advertisement. None of em are on, and i cant remember what brands they were..
I absolutly agree 100% with this. If this helps make HD technology mainstream and in high demand then I dont care who makes them or who buys them.
Also, if a huge supplier is selling HDTV's at a much lower price it will begin to force the other suppliers and manufacturers to lower their prices in order to retain the same number of sales. Basically, if a non HT crazy consumer can get a 32" HD set from walmart for say $500 then it wont be long before places like BB or CC will be selling 32" HD's in that same ballpark.
It's too much to list in this thread and I don't want to hijack the thread into a wal-mart bash. I will say that I've worked for three companies that have a relationship with walmart and only one made money (and just barely). They pay about 1/2 of what they owe and then pay games to try to keep from paying the rest, even if you follow their rules to the LETTER they still don't pay. I hate dishonest business and walmart is the top of my list for dishonest business practices. I could write a novel on why you don't want to do business with walmart and if you do how to do it where you can make money. I would be an epic even if I exclude the negative walmart effect on consumers and rural main street USA and all the other publically known bad stuff about them. I have a very positive opinion about many of the other big retailers we supply and walmart/sam's stands alone in my negative category. I love working with Amazon, JCPenny, Target, etc.
Again, if Wal*Mart was such a horrible place to do business, NO ONE WOULD!!!
I mean, if all the companies that were doing business with Wal*Mart were getting burned, they would stop and others would NOT start.
It's not like companies are obligated to deal with them.
My business marketing teacher used to work for a company that made hearing protection gear. They were doing well until one day, their products made it to Wal*Mart shelves. Within a few months, their business EXPLODED and it was all thanks to Wal*Mart's vast customer base. THIS is why companies do business with them!
MOST of the companies that do business with Wal*Mart much be making out well, or else they would stop dealing with them!
I could not care less about Wal*Mart, but we are talking about BUSINESS - and what you are saying is the exception rather than the rule. There are companes that have had their products on Wal*Mart's shelves for decades - and they muct be happy, or else they would pull their products and that would be that.
Die Wal-Mart Die! Evil frigging comapny. Would make an excellent James Bond villan. I don't care if their selling top of the line HDTV's for $1.99, I wouldn't buy one from that company. Everybody is entitled to their opinion and politics, and of course to shop where they want to shop, but that company is bad news for America in my opinion.
You are right, making statements like I made without supporting facts is silly. I did so somewhat tongue in cheek. This obviously is not the forum for political debates otherwise I would like nothing better then to enter into a discussion about what I and many others perceive to be the evils of Wal-Mart, which is evident in the spreading initiative by many communities and human rights activists to ban Wal-Marts from their communities.
For those who are in any way interested about the ethics of Wal-Mart and shopping at Wal-Mart, check out this link which offers two opposing view points on this issue from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at the University of Santa Clara.
Right. It would be different if there were other retailers out there, like K-Mart or Target or Sears. Then vendors could do business with them and customers could choose to shop there. But since there's only Walmat...
There is a good article in the archives of FastCompany magazine's website. It has the pickle story in it. Look for Issue 77. The article is "The Wal-Mart You Don't Know".