2 December 2004 – Bentonville (AR): Wal-Mart has indicated plans to cut prices during the Christmas season after its strategy to hold back discounts over Thanksgiving weekend translated into sluggish sales.
The disappointing weekend, which caused company shares to drop 4 per cent on the NYSE on Monday, has resulted in a tepid 0.7 per cent increase in comp sales for the month of November, the company has reported.
Wal-Mart spokesperson Sharon Weber said: "We are disappointed with our sales performance for the Friday after Thanksgiving and the full weekend.
"While our prices were generally as low as they have ever been, our competition was even more aggressive. We have learned from this and will move quickly to respond to what our customer has told us during the rest of the holiday season," she added.
Despite this, Wal-Mart has today lowered its 2 – 4 per cent sales growth estimate for Q4 to 1 – 3 per cent.
