Retail giant axes program, implements long-term rollbacks to offset the policy change.
The ad-matching program, where shoppers could show a competitor’s ad to get a lower price on certain products, is now a thing of the past at 500 WalMart stores as of June 9. The retail giant has announced that it is phasing out the popular program, and is implementing a wide range of long-term rollbacks on products and directing customers to join Walmart’s App, which contains a tool called the Savings Catcher.
Walmart has not released a list of stores, or even regions, affected by this latest policy change, according to Consumerist, which means that customers won’t know if their store is included until they get to the store. The new policy also still allows customers to price match items from .
Customers at the stores can instead use the retailer's Savings Catcher app, where users can scan their receipts and the app compares Wal-Mart prices to those advertised by competitors, offering an e-gift card for the difference amount if there is one. As Business Insider pointed out, this is a “brilliant way to encourage more customers to join Walmart’s app.” While the physical ad-matching program is being eliminated, the Saving’s Catcher app will still work at all Walmart stores.
The move was not so much about boosting use of the Walmart app, however, but had more to do with price rollbacks on thousands of items at these stores, according to WalMart spokesperson John Forrest Ales who explained that these price cuts in several departments would negate the need for ad-matching. Ales told Retail Dive that, unlike the traditional 90-day price cuts at WalMart, the new rollbacks will be longer-lasting. In addition, many of the price reductions are on consumables, reflecting the majority of items commonly price matched under the old program, according to Ales.
