Judging Today's Retail Trends - is Wal-Mart still the Cheapest?

Look closely at today's retail trends and there is at least one area where the experts seem not that much better informed than lay everyday shoppers. Ask any ordinary shopper about what retailer he thinks offers the best deals on a consistent and reliable basis and more often than not, they are likely to point to the Every Day Low Prices at Wal-Mart. That's what happens when a company just entrenches itself in your imagination with relentless marketing. When it is no longer able to keep up with the reputation it's built, you still don't notice.

This then is what is happening with Wal-Mart: they are actually raising prices on many of their important sales leaders. And even in the traditionally competitive area of groceries, there is a competitor they have yielded their position to. It is Target. Traditionally, Wal-Mart has been known to be in a position of particular advantage; they always had such massive buying power that no one else could get the kind of prices they could. They used their buying power, their efficiency and high technology, in a way other retailers just could not approach.

But over the last year, people studying retail trends have seen something strange going on at Wal-Mart - their everyday low price strategy isn't really in evidence anymore. Wal-Mart began to rely on rollbacks last year. Wal-Mart stores also cleaned out all the shelves piled high with deals. And then, they began to roll back the rollbacks too. On average, Wal-Mart prices are higher today than a year ago and there are fewer rollbacks.

As the experts who study retail trends are beginning to see now, Wal-Mart is having a really hard time beating other retailers' prices. At this time, Wal-Mart really hasn't ceded the market in low-cost shopping to Target. But depending on what kinds of items you buy, Target may be cheaper. The average shopper may end up saving only one dollar at Target overall; but in the retail industry, that's a big sign of where the deals are in the future.

In matters of grocery shopping, Target, with its freshly-expanded grocery section is almost always the winner on price. Perhaps this is because Target has more private label stuff to offer, while Wal-Mart offers more national brands. If you are a shopper trying to make the most of your money, today's retail trends ask you to make changes.

For groceries, you should probably go to Target; still, going to a superstore does take time and gas. Consider looking at regular supermarkets in your area. Some supermarkets offer lower prices than either Wal-Mart or Target. Wal-Mart has started to deal more in generating a perception of low prices than actually offering them. They will have a few deep discounts that they heavily advertise; but the other products in the store will be about the regular price. Make sure that you are actually buying the low prices and not a perception of it.