Five days of deals at Walmart

Walmart continues to expand its view of Black Friday and is encouraging shoppers to do the same by rethinking the practice of waiting in line on Black Friday to secure limited quantities of merchandise.



This year, Walmart is branding its multi-day promotional effort as the “New Black Friday” and said it would feature an expanded range of deals spread over five days, beginning with online promotional offers Thanksgiving morning followed by promotional time periods continuing through Cyber Monday. In addition, Walmart said its featured items would be backed by an improved one-hour price guarantee, promoted in the company’s first ever interactive circular and merchandised in stores with tailored crowd control plans.



“Black Friday is no longer about waking up at the crack of dawn to stand in long lines and hope for the best. At Walmart, it’s become a family shopping tradition where everyone shops at some point throughout the weekend,” said Duncan Mac Naughton, chief merchandising officer, Walmart U.S. “This year, we’re blowing it out with five days of deals in store and online. We’ll have crazy low prices on the gifts our customers want.”



For the third year in a row, Walmart is offering its one hour guarantee to ensure customer who visit a store for a specific item are guaranteed that item. For example, as long as customers are in the designated areas of the store between 6 and 7 p.m. for feature merchandise on Nov. 27 they are guaranteed to receive the product at the promotional price.



“We’re using our entire supply chain to deliver for our customers in a way no other retailer can,” said Mac Naughton. “Our guarantee ensures our customers get the product they came for and enables us to organize the store in a way that makes the shopping experience better for everyone.”



Walmart said it improved the program this year by simplifying the registration and pick-up process for those that do not receive the product during the event. This year, customers will be asked to bring their one hour guarantee ticket to the checkout lane and pay for the item. Then they need to visit Walmart.com before 12:59 p.m. EST on Dec. 1 to enter the transaction code from the receipt and choose the store to pick up the item before Christmas.



“We’ve taken significant steps to improve the 1-Hour Guarantee process from beginning to end. It’s simple and seamless,” Mac Naughton said.