Walmart enhances home entertainment department

BENTONVILLE, Ark. Walmart has announced new enhancements to its home entertainment department.

"Starting this month, customers will discover more high quality internet-ready home entertainment products, new wireless technologies and new mobile devices in stores and online that offer simple, affordable solutions for creating a more connected life," said Gary Severson, SVP home entertainment for Walmart U.S. "We also continue to design a well-defined shopping experience in Entertainment that enables customers to find what they need quickly, learn about new technology, compare prices among top brands, and every day find amazing value. Our commitment to the best price and surprising value is always a top priority."

Walmart reported that it will increase its assortment of Internet-content streaming Blu-ray players by 50%, expand its offering of Internet-connectable HDTVs and will create a "New Technology" HDTV Center at 1,200 stores. The retailer announced also that it will roll out a dedicated area for pay-as-you-go, no contract "mobile broadband" product. In addition, Walmart said it would expand its redesigned movie department to all stores this summer and bring an expanded home theater assortment to more than 2,000 stores.

The retailer announced as well that it will introduce new opportunities to point out savings to consumers. For example, the company is rolling out a new HDTV savings center, which will focus on special buys on these products, at more than 1,200 stores and offering customers BillShrink, an online program that enables customers to see if they could pay less for cellular service.