You might think of Walmart as the place that brings you “Low Prices Every Day” in their stores, as their tagline boasts. But that might not be true anymore online!
Sources close to Walmart say the nation’s biggest retailer will spend 2018 putting a laser focus on selling merchandise online that’s priced at a minimum of $10 to boost profit margins.
RELATED: 9 things you should never buy at Walmart
Why $10 is the new magic number for online shoppers
Reuters reports Walmart’s head of e-commerce Marc Lore had meetings last week with Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Kimberly-Clark and Clorox at company headquarters.
His message to those suppliers? Walmart no longer wants to sell cheap items online that cost more to ship and have to be sold at a loss.
For example, Reuters notes that Walmart has to pay the same amount in shipping whether a customer orders a Gillette Mach 3 Disposable Razors at a sale price of $6.97 or Gillette Fusion5 ProGlide Men’s Razor Refills at $12.97.
Which one would you rather sell to your online customers if you were Walmart?
That’s exactly why the store is putting the squeeze on its suppliers to create more merchandise for it to sell at a minimum price point of $10 and up.
“Walmart has started to understand it cannot make money if they offer the lowest prices online on every item and then spend $4 or $5 trying to ship it over,” said one supplier. “It is not sustainable and more importantly their shareholders won’t allow it.”
(Editor’s note: Walmart does offer free shipping on orders with a $35 minimum.)
You may recall Walmart began selling items at a higher price online than in stores late last year. So this new development is really the logical extension of that 2017 pricing experiment.
Basically, Walmart is looking to squeeze every penny of profit out of their online customers!
The takeaway
You’re probably used to comparison shopping online before you buy something, but consider this a warning that you definitely need to widen the search beyond Walmart.com when you’re looking to buy basic consumer staples.
Other good alternatives to check include online dollar store Hollar or your local brick-and-mortar dollar store.
In fact, sticking with the example of razors mentioned above, Dollar Tree offers a two-pack of premium razors for just $1. The members of Team Clark all tried these razors and many of us loved the shave!
Meanwhile, Amazon — long known for selling products online at a loss — is eyeing the $10 price point in a way that’s very different from Walmart.
The e-commerce giant has launched an under $10 deals section and there’s no minimum threshold for free shipping. You don’t even have to be a Prime member to get benefit!
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