Trumping Walmart’s toy prices

The retail industry is full of claims and counter claims about low prices and saving money, but invariably whenever someone conducts a price survey and looks at a basket of goods Walmart comes out on top. Or is it the bottom? Either way, Walmart is found to have the lowest prices and that was the case again recently when Citigroup analyst Deb Weinswig examined online toy prices.

She looked at prices on a basket of toys based on the The Toy Insider’s “Hot 20” toy list and the Toys“R”Us Hot Holiday List. Prices used in the survey were those listed on the retailer’s websites on Oct. 20. Walmart’s prices were lowest on the overall basket by 2.3%, and its prices were lowest on 75% of the individual items. However, there is a big “if” in the findings that puts Target on top. With the 5% Rewards program factored in, Target has the lowest price on 80% of the individual items.

“If we apply the 5% discount offered by Target to private label credit/debit cardholders, Target would move into the number one spot in our second annual toy pricing survey with 2.7% savings versus Walmart,” according to Weinswig. “With this discount program in place, we believe Target is well-positioned to win mind share and market share this holiday season. As a result, Target is one of our top picks for holiday and we reiterate our buy rating and $72 target price.”