MONEY-SAVING MOMENT: A market share war in the world of appliance retail means deals for consumers.
The appliance market has long been considered a sleepy, non-competitive one. But it is sleepy no more. A number of different retailers have decided all at once that appliance sales are a low-voltage way for them to make money.
Sears, the one-time big in this world, now only sells a little more than 25% of all appliances in the market, according to The Wall Street.
That slack is being picked up by some old and new entrants into the appliance market space. Lowe’s has long had a focus on appliances, but now Home Depot wants to go head-to-head with its competitor.
Other new entrants include Best Buy and Wal-Mart. The latter was previously testing appliance sales in select markets and has found enough traction to roll it out to more markets.
Then you also have the regional chains, like the fast-growing HH Gregg.
Put all together, this means that the marketplace is hyper competitive. If price matters to you, more shopping will get you a lower price today in the midst of the market share war.
Whenever there’s a price war, in any product category, the winner is always the consumer.
