Spring is the new Black Friday at Walmart

Walmart has borrowed a page from the playbook of Home Depot and Lowe’s with a new Spring seasonal promotion that leverages the equity of Black Friday.

Walmart said it was featuring Black Friday like prices from March 21-29 on more than 60 outdoor products and took aim at the home improvement channel noting in a press release that it has nearly twice as many locations as the leading home improvement store. To generate traffic, Walmart is featuring two cubic foot bags of red, black and brown mulch for $1.97 and what it said was the largest selection of lawn mowers and grills for less than $200. For example, Walmart is offering a Murray lawn mower for $144, a seven piece Mainstays brand patio set for $298 and a Kingsford brand charcoal grill for $88.

“Nobody does Black Friday better than Walmart, and we’re bringing that same philosophy to our new outdoor living, lawn and garden event by offering incredibly low prices on the products our customers are looking for,” said Michelle Gloeckler, SVP of home for Walmart U.S. “Given the extreme winter many of our customers experienced, we know they are preparing to restore their gardens and outdoor living spaces. This event will help them save money while they transition into the new season.”

Home Depot began a similar promotion in 2010 when it said it had moved Black Friday from November to Spring, noting that the flurry of spending activity that takes place in the Spring is the equivalent for Christmas in the home improvement world. Lowe’s also employed a similar strategy this year with a promotional event called Spring Black Friday encompassing two weekends.