Wal-Mart Weekly: Taking stock of Wal-Mart's Black Friday offerings

At first, a small snag

For about 20 minutes Friday morning, this is the message I found at www.walmart.com:

Thank goodness Wal-Mart's site maintenance on the morning of Black Friday did not last too long. But, the below graphic took the cake -- this was the landing page for a $498 laptop PC being offered in Wal-Mart's Black Friday ad:












So, this laptop was "Not Sold Online" and also was "Not Sold in Stores." So, customers are expected to purchase this...how? Okay, enough chuckling -- let's move one to the meaty stuff.

Flat-panel televisions and other goodies

Again this year, flat-panel televisions were the flagship products at Wal-Mart and other consumer electronics retailers like Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY), the bankrupt Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) and other chains like Ultimate Electronics. On the front page of the Wal-Mart Black Friday ad for my area, the madness was afoot: a Samsung 50" 720p flat-panel plasma set was screaming out a price of $798. For a very large big screen flat-panel, this is the kind of price that gets customers excited. Of course, Wal-Mart's standard disclaimer was listed underneath: "Our stores will match the price of any local competitor's printed ad for an identical product. Not applicable to Walmart.com. Restrictions apply. See store for details." When Wal-Mart dictates to many manufacturers that they add a feature here, take away a feature there or change a model number to one only it can carry, it's kind of hard to price-match Wal-Mart's consumer electronics offerings in many cases. What else is new? Though, many other retailers have adopted similar policies that make it extremely difficult to price-match or compare against the competition. Still, it's kind of funny to see disclaimers like that being propagated to the public.

And then there was the Polaroid 42" 1080p LCD flat-panel for $598. Again, an extremely competitive price. You just don't see that large of a screen with the newest 1080p resolution for under $600. Prices will be there soon on a regular basis, but they're not here yet. Regardless, here's Wal-Mart's price. Oh, I should have mentioned that these prices are valid from 5am to 11am today only.

Then, there are other honorable mentions: a Samsung 10.2 megapixel digital camera with 3x zoom lens for $69 and a Magnavox Blu-ray disc player for $128 (the cheapest Blu-ray player price yet). So, here we have four pretty cheap deals, but does the competition compare?

Best Buy and Circuit City

Taking a cue from Wal-Mart, I first checked out Best Buy's deals to see what was comparable to the above four products. Remember, these are the products Wal-Mart was highlighting in its Black Friday ad -- all consumer electronics items. Best Buy was advertising a Dynex (house brand) 42" 720p flat-panel LCD television for $599 -- just a dollar above Wal-Mart's Polaroid offering, but with inferior 720p resolution. The closest Best Buy could come to a 50" flat-panel set was Panasonic's 50" 720p plasma for $899 -- a full $100 over Wal-Mart's comparable Samsung set. There was an Insignia (another house brand) 7 megapixel digital camera being offered by Best Buy for $59 -- also, quite a step down from Wal-Mart's 10 megapixel offering, but $10 cheaper. In terms of Blu-ray, the closest bargain in Best Buy's ad was a Samsung unit for $199 -- $62 more expensive than Wal-Mart's Magnavox offering. Wal-Mart also was offering this Samsung player for $198, but it wasn't the cheapest Blu-ray player being offered.

Let's skip to another retailer, Circuit City. Right off the bat, the retailer currently organizing a bankruptcy was offering a Samsung 42" 720p plasma flat-panel for $699. Also, it was offering what appeared to be the same Samsung 50" 720p plasma set as Wal-Mart, but for $899 instead of $798. Circuit City was also offering the same Samsung Blu-ray player as both Wal-Mart and Best Buy for $199, but was offering no other compelling Blu-ray player for a Black Friday sale. The closest Circuit City could get to with a digital camera special was a Samsung 8 megapixel unit for $79. All in all, comparable offerings to Best Buy -- but Wal-Mart smacked both of them when taking price points alone into consideration.

How to purchase -- forget sitting in front of your computer

It was interesting to see that Wal-Mart was making most of its items available for purchase online or in person at one of its stores. The same was true for Circuit City -- it was the most aggressive in stating in its ad that there was a "1-price promise" between online pricing and in-store pricing. Oh boy -- if Circuit City has not mastered the art of offering the same product for the same price in its stores and online, then no wonder it's in the midst of bankruptcy reorganization.

Here's the kicker -- on all items listed from these three retailers, every single one -- and this is at 6:00am on Friday morning -- listed "out of stock online" or "in-store only." Every single item. Best Buy was the only one to state "in store only" on its items, while Circuit City and Wal-Mart simply stated "out of stock" for its products. In reality, trying to shop for exclusive pricing from the comfort of your own home on the morning of Black Friday is completely unrealistic if you want to take advantage of the most aggressive deals on consumer electronics.

While all retailers boast "shop early on Thanksgiving" and such, the reality is that the web is the wild west: millions of consumers are poised at their keyboards on Thanksgiving Day or Black Friday armed with credit cards, and they will sneak your too-good-to-be-true deal away from you. Your recourse? Get out at 4:30am Friday morning, get in line at your favorite retailer, chill your buns off and take the same chance as everyone else in line. All things are equal in this situation, but the odds are stacked against you when the best couch potatoes in the U.S. are all chomping at the bit to get in on that sweetheart deal with just a few mouse clicks.

If you shopped on Black Friday morning in person, I salute you. That had to be painful. But, I hope the wait, the lines and the frustration of throwing elbows landed you with some excellent prices on holiday gifts you might not have scored by sitting in front of the laptop in your pajamas with a cup of coffee.

Join me right here next time for another edition of the Wal-Mart Weekly. Until then, hope your Thanksgiving was pleasant and filled with cheer.