Wal-Mart’s (WMT) continuing price war against Amazon (AMZN) has potential to revolutionize the publishing industry.
Or it may just turn into one huge publicity stunt.
Wal-Mart slashed prices of some highly anticipated new hardcovers to $10, which prompted Amazon to follow suit with the same price cut. Wal-Mart fired back with another cut down to $9, which Amazon matched again this morning.
Wal-Mart, by far the country’s biggest retailer, is aiming to increase its Web presence. The company doesn’t release stats pertaining to online sales, but this latest price war is obviously geared at drumming up publicity about its online offering as well as stealing market share from Amazon.
Wal-Mart CEO Raul Vazquez offered up some fighting words about the retail giant’s strategy. “If there is going to be a ‘Wal-Mart of the Web,’ it is going to be Walmart.com,” Vazquez tells WSJ. “Our goal is to be the biggest and most visited retail Web site.”
