Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) shares were downgraded by Goldman Sachs from Buy to Neutral this week. Analyst Matthew Fassler indicated that Best Buy would continue to see increased pressure from online retailers, as well as mass discounters like Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), which continues to upgrade its consumer electronics assortment and brand selection.

On the Wal-Mart front, the largest retailer in the world still is vastly inferior to Best Buy in terms of brand selection, assortment and even pricing -- so Fassler may be calling this a little too early. In the flat-panel television and PC categories, for example, Best Buy continually outshines Wal-Mart in just about every way from this writer's chair. Perhaps Wal-Mart will get better. Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), on the other hand, is nowhere close to either Best Buy or Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) will soon be selling a Blu-ray disc player for under $300, as the Magnavox model NB500MG9 will hit Wal-Mart shelves for the new low price of $298 in an effort to encourage adoption of the new high-definition format in U.S. consumer homes. That's all great, since the expensive format has not won over a huge amount of customers with its high price, even though it is the sole hi-def disc format with HD DVD's demise earlier this year.

But $298 is still too expensive. Players will need to hit the $199 or $149 mark before mass adoption becomes possible. As usual, Wal-Mart is helping bring down the price of a major new consumer electronics item, and other retailers will be sure to follow suit soon. The prices of the software -- Blu-ray movies -- will also need to trend downwards. Consumers aren't going to be shelling out $30 a pop for a whole new library of movies to replace the perfectly fine DVDs sitting in their homes.

So, another round of "leading the pack" in terms of a new low price goes to Wal-Mart and its intensive pricing power over its supplier base. With Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY) recently seen discounting Blu-ray movie titles to $16.99, the summer of 2008 may see the Blu-ray format gain mass acceptance among the tight-pocketed American consumer. Still -- who will be the first to have a $199 Blu-ray player on shelves?