Here’s how much cheaper Walmart is for groceries vs. the competition

Theo Thimou | April 24th, 2017

Team Clark is adamant that we will never write content influenced by or paid for by an advertiser. To support our work, we do make money from some links to companies and deals on our site. Learn more about our guarantee here.

We told you in February how Walmart was testing new lower prices largely throughout the Midwest and Southeast to compete with Aldi and other discount grocery chains.

But now we’re seeing some new numbers that flesh out exactly how much cheaper the nation’s largest retailer has become versus the competition.

Walmart’s new lower grocery prices are jaw-dropping!

This year and the year prior have been kind to grocery shoppers; as of March 2017, year-to-year food retail prices dropped for the 16th straight month — the longest stretch since 1956, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Wolfe Research crunched the numbers and found Walmart is working hard to reclaim the title of cheapest grocer it had before European hard discounters like Aldi and Lidl came to the United States.

Here’s a snapshot of exactly how much Walmart is undercutting competitors in a few markets around the country:

A basket of grocery staples at Walmart costs…

5.8% less than the average competitor basket in the Philadelphia metro area
4.9% less than the average competitor basket in the Atlanta metro area
2.7% less than the average competitor basket in Southern California

Meanwhile, in a separate study, Reuters noted the following prices in five Midwestern cities in February at both Aldi and Walmart locations.

Image Credit: C. Chan & N. Bose/Reuters

Listen: Clark talks about Walmart’s lower grocery prices on the Clark Howard Show Podcast

Could even lower grocery prices be coming for Walmart?

The cost-cutting may not be over yet at Walmart.

Recode reports that Walmart executives discussed aggressive new terms with their suppliers in February at the company’s Arkansas headquarters.

Walmart asked its suppliers to cut their profit margins on the goods they sell to the mega-retailer. If that happens, Walmart figures it will be able to offer shoppers the lowest price anywhere on any given item 80% of the time.

We’re not quite there yet, as the newest numbers from Wolfe Research and Reuters show, but Walmart is definitely on the right path.

Keep the savings coming, guys!