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NEW YORK (AP) — First it was books. Now it’s DVDs.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. started another price war Thursday, trimming the online preorder prices of some coming DVDs after its price cut on books last month. And, once again, competitors Amazon.com and Target scrambled to match the prices.
It’s the latest salvo in an ongoing online push by Wal-Mart designed to make sure everyone knows it intends to be the low-price leader on the Web, as well as in stores.
The retailer, based in Bentonville, Ark., said late Thursday that it would lower the online prices of new DVDs such as “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” and “Star Trek XI” to $10.
But when Amazon reduced some of its DVD prices to $9.99, Wal-Mart shot back by cutting its DVDs to $9.98 as of Friday morning. Target got into the act Friday morning, too. All three companies also sweetened the pot by offering free shipping for the DVDs being sold.
Wal-Mart’s book price war with Target and Amazon.com in October saw the companies lower the online preorder prices on titles such as “Under the Dome” by Stephen King and “Ford County” by John Grisham. Prices dropped as low as $8.98. As books in the price war have come to market, prices have gone up, though the sellers are still discounting them heavily.
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