Office Supply Store…

As an example I needed an electric power washer and I researched it on the web and then went to Lowes and Wal-Mart. The same model at Lowes was $9 more expensive and the same model at WalMart not only was cheaper but had an extra attachement. I bought it at Wal-Mart and then came back home, went to the manufactures web site and put in the model number. Sure enough the only place that sold that model number was Wal-Mart. Same exact specifications as the one offered a Lowes but with Wal-Mart’s buying power they were able to get the manufacturer to add an extra accesory and lower the price.

I live in the boonies and as much as I hate Wal-Mart’s predatory pricing policies the $9 I saved paid for the gas to get there. I love New Egg but sometimes I just want something right now and if Wal-Mart will have it then I will buy it.

Plus think of all the deals if this idea goes bust and the Vendors have to eat the unsold parts.

They used to sell $200 PCs online, without rebates or signing your life away to AOL. Nothing any “savvy” computer person would buy, but there it was.

Cheap laptop?? Last day-after-Thanksgiving Wal-Mart was the first retailer to sell a sub-$300 laptop, albeit in limited quantities. Since then they keep a $400-$500 laptop in stock. Again, nothing a normal computer savvy person would even look at, but there it is.

> OK…so next comes Costco. Wal-Mart tried to copy the Costco format with
> Sam’s Club but hasn’t made much of a dent.

476 Costco stores versus the more than 500 Sam’s clubs… Don’t get me wrong. I loved Costco when I lived in Seattle and feel it is a slightly higher quality store, but there’s always a Sam’s Club nearby when I need one. Looking at their website Costco is clearly a California company, whereas Sam’s is, quite frankly, everywhere else…

> And to my comment about desktops selling and yet not selling- I am
> saying that more and more people are buying laptops

Laptops are junk when it comes to gaming and home multimedia. I’ve had nothing but heat and resource problems with the few laptops I’ve had over the years. A small SFF desktop with a nearly silent Seagate/Hitachi harddrive and quiet-if-not-silent cooling fans are perfect… All for under $400. Find me a laptop with a 160GB 7200RPM ATA/100 drive and 1GB memory for under $400.

Not to say I don’t have apprehension with their plan either. My local Wal-Mart has had the same $60 80GB Seagate drive sitting on the shelf for three years. I buy 160/200GB Seagates for $50 or less (after MIR) quite regular. However, if they can somehow manage to keep a regular flow of reasonably priced items on the shelves, they might be onto something.

Forgive me if you did not want to have this kind of debate in the comments. It is my opinion your view on this is slightly skewed, and for what it’s worth my view could be slightly skewed aswell. This will be my last comment on this topic. Thanks.

Gord

If Wal-Mart does this right they could make a killing.

But maybe a few knowledgable people who see that the price of “building your own” at Walmart is the same price as “building your own” at home. Without the heartache of putting it together on your own(speaking for those who always have a little trouble no matter how knowledgable you are). This can be acomplished only by the BIG BULLY of the industry, Walmart, because we all know that when walmart wants the industry to lower prices on items, they usually get their way.

But cultivating a higher end customer means higher end stuff at higher end prices, and higher end usually means better looking, more unique, or name brand (status). They are doing that in ad campaigns targeting fashion when people come in for eye drops (that’s one ad I saw) and that is a tactic specifically going after Target who is having a lot of luck moving fashion and home accessories over socks and toothpaste.

OK…so next comes Costco. Wal-Mart tried to copy the Costco format with Sam’s Club but hasn’t made much of a dent. Costco has a very wealthy shopping demographic and sells a ton of electronics from high end flat panel sets to cordless phone systems and ink jet cartridges. But you won’t see them touching build your PCs. They move in deals and the buyers snap them up.

All I am says is: why pick “build-your own” as the way to go more high end? Why not offer really cheap laptops (and desktops) and TVs and so on and use the price muscle to win over the geeks? Geeks will then do what they do at electronic store like Frys and load up on socks and toothpaste, so you get a reverse trend in shopping!

Again, I have not seen these stores. I will be taking my camera to Wal-Mart in a few weeks when I go to Texas. But it just doesn’t add up.

And to my comment about desktops selling and yet not selling- I am saying that more and more people are buying laptops - they appeal to students, people scared of PCs, to business travelers and people who are space constrained. That’s why the build your own PC sounds a bit late in the game. Desktops are bulky and loud and have a ton of cords and cables. They also need more floor space to sell. Flat panel monitors and keyboard and mouse sets and laptops are tiny in comparison. They offer more profit and if price right, all those people who bought DVD players and TVs are probably ready now to trust Wal-Mart get a nice laptop for their kids or snap up a second PC for $299.

And I’m in agreement with #8… Believe it or not, locations outside of San FranCISCO do not have computer shops every 100 yards. What the heck is a “Fry’s”?? Isn’t that the character from Futurama?? Around Knoxville TN the only “hard core” computer shop is CompUSA. We have Best Buy and Circuit City, but their computer selection is minimal and markup is just as bad as Wal-Mart, if not worse. Whereas you can’t swing a cat by the tail without hitting a Wal-Mart.

Sure, granny (born in the 1960’s) isn’t going to be in there buying a PC every week… But what about everyday Joe and Jane Doe, 30-somethings who were teens the late 80’s early 90’s, shop at Wal-Mart every weekend, own a couple game consoles (probably a PS2 and gen1 xBox) and just so happens their current home computers (yes, they have several by now) are getting as old as their kids??

In the end, Wal-Mart is a big company. They have a lot of smart people that have gotten them where they are today. If they are going to start selling custom computers in their stores, they have done the homework and think it’s a good idea somewhere. And they have the deep enough pockets to experiment with it while having no problem abandoning the project altogether if it fails.

Huh?