April 20th, 2007

versus versus

Who Really has the lowest prices?

I've heard the debates over and over and over again. Some say WalMart is cheaper, while others swear they aren't,
saying WalMart just makes it appear so by lowering prices on a few select items to draw you into their store.

But what I haven't seen is a true comparison of what the "real life" results are. I read an online comparison of WalMart

vs Target over at Cockeyed.com. But I was very dissapointed in the way the comparison was setup.

Why? Well there are a couple reasons.

Number one: WalMart gets the majority of it's revenue through sales at it's "SuperCenter" stores.

What are people buying at these "SuperCenters" ? What they can't buy at a regular WalMart discount store: Groceries.

Number two: To have a true comparison, I believe the items you are comparing need to be EXACTLY the same, no substitutes.

In the interest of coming to a "real life" accurate conclusion, I've setup my own ground rules as follows:

1. Each comparison must be an identical item. Same weight, fluid oz, variety, etc...

2. Each item for comparison was selected BEFORE I set foot in any store.
I selected the items based on a combination of what my family normally buys, and what I thought were some of the more popular items across America.

3. Since WalMart and most other stores will match competitors ads, and sale items only last a week, I am going with non sale, "regular" prices whenever possible.

Below I've compared 21 items that are available at each store.
I had originally planned on comparing 25 items, but couldn't find the exact same product for 4 items on my list. So 21 items it is.

Okay, let's begin!

RESULTS

Out of 21 total items Dillons had the lowest price on 1 item (tied with WalMart on Bananas), PriceCutter had the lowest price on 3 items,
and WalMart had the lowest price on 18 items.

Let's assume the average family spends $550 month on groceries, and they shop at WalMart. Keeping the ratios equal, those groceries would cost $718 at Dillons, and $682 at nearest competitor Price Cutter.

That's a yearly savings of $2,016 over Dillons, and $1,584 compared to Price Cutter!

Put the extra $1,584 into a simple savings account at 5% yearly and in 30 years you have an extra $109,858.14!

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