Happy Prime Day Eve. Amazon’s first major sales event of 2022 kicks off tomorrow, which usually means other retailers gear up to compete. But Walmart isn’t taking that approach.
Sitting it out: The company won’t be holding a countersale this year since it’s already marking down so many items as a means to shed excess inventory—a problem affecting several big-box retailers.
- “You go in stores now, it’s almost like Prime Day in some of these categories,” Rupesh Parikh, senior analyst for Oppenheimer & Co., told CNBC.
- CEO Doug McMillon said during a May earnings call that the company will work through its extra inventory “over the next couple of quarters.”
- “We’ll control what we can control, reduce our inventory level and keep prices as low as we can,” he said.
Target has also gone the discount route, after warning investors profits could fall in the coming months because of too many items in stock. However, Target is still hosting its three-day Deals Days event from today through Wednesday, per CNBC.
The big picture: Unfortunately for Walmart—and many retailers—consumers anticipate discounts won’t be significant. Nearly two-thirds of shoppers believe discounts will shrink this summer, according to an Adobe Commerce survey.—KM
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