Checkout
Walmart Subsidizing Some Vendors in Price War With Amazon
- Chain reimbursing third-party sellers when it forces price cut
- Company using new ideas in bid to grab sales from web leader
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
This article is for subscribers only.
Hold on to your smartphone -- the holiday price wars between Walmart Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are heating up.
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, has introduced a program to temporarily lower the price consumers pay for some items on its marketplace site, where third-party vendors pay Walmart a fee to list their goods. The merchants selling on the site, however, will still be paid the same amount that was listed before the cuts, with Walmart subsidizing the difference, according to a description of the plan obtained by Bloomberg that was confirmed by a Walmart spokeswoman. The price reductions won’t affect shipping fees.