Wal-Mart is PISSED

Before this post begins, I've realized that eventually I will give away which retailer I work for simply by discussing the other retailers I don't work for and leaving it to a simple process of elimination. I won't explicitly call out my employer in the interest of not being "douced" (read: fired for comments made on one's blog). If folks dig a little, it won't be too hard to figure out where I work. I'm not encouraging you to do so, but if you're curious, the information isn't hard to find.

So, Wal-Mart is pissed at the company I work for. Royally pissed. It does help explain one of my earlier posts a little better; after all, it would seem silly for Wal-Mart to match a Best Buy pricing error and advertise it so vigorously if it wasn't for the fact that they were trying to screw us over. Wondering what is going on here? Ready to find out? Read on, freaky followers, read on.

It all started with Madden 2010. Wal-Mart, purveyor of all things American (even in Canada), is used to dominating the market in sports video games around this time of year. Sports game reach a market that aren't always regular gamers; there are fair share of console owners who only buy sports games. They aren't part of our typical customer base, but they do cross over into Wal-Mart's customer base a fair bit. Wal-Mart expected to dominate Madden sales this year, until we threw a curveball. It was a simple trade promotion: trade two games (conditions apply) and get Madden for $10. Or get the Wii version for free, but only one person did that, and he later returned it. Despite it's slow launch at my store, Madden sales were high for our company nationwide, with many thousands taking advantage of our two-for-$10 deal. We must have eaten into Wal-Mart's sales, because this is what started their fury towards us.

Apparently it was this fury that caused them to commit so fully to selling Batman: Arkham Asylum at $38.89. It was not a price they expected us to match. We did (and we're selling it for that price until the end of today). Needless to say, this has made them even more angry. I can just imagine how furious they'll become when they discover that we are also the first Canadian retailer able to sell the PS3 Slim, well before the September 1st street date that applies to all other retailers. I sold my first one on Tuesday.

All this comes from conversation with one of the Vice Presidents of our company, who came in to inspect our store (and reminds me somewhat of a land shark).

There's a Wal-Mart just across the street from my store. I keep expecting to have to open up one day, just to find a Wal-Mart-brand brick thrown through the window. How long before this devolves into gang warfare? I guess we'll see what happens with the NHL 2010 launch.