Amazon and Wal-Mart: Who will blink first in book price war? |
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Amazon and Wal-Mart: Who will blink first in book price war?
Wal-Mart yesterday slashed the price of online pre-orders on top-selling books to $10. Then Amazon lowered its price on those books to $10. Then Wal-Mart went down to $9 on the books, and Amazon matched the price cut. Will the two retail giants go down to $8?
The holiday price war is rippling through the publishing industry, where some are already concerned about Amazon's policy of pricing new release books for Kindle at $9.99. It seems Wal-Mart has something to prove, after a recent story about Amazon becoming "Wal-Mart of the Web."
Update: Wal-Mart cut the online price on the top-selling books by a penny. They're now $8.99. Amazon's price for the same books is still $9. Stay tuned.
While Wal-Mart is the nation's biggest brick-and-mortar retailer, it faces big online competition from Amazon, which has steadily expanded beyond books to include all kinds of merchandise.
Wal-Mart has also said it's slashing prices on its top 200 books by 50 percent or more online. It will be interesting to see if the price war expands to more books — and products —as we head into the holiday shopping season.
Asked for comment on the price war, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Amy Lester didn't address Amazon but said Wal-Mart's goal is to "help our customers shop and save money online, especially during an increasingly challenging year for many of them and right before the Holidays."
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