Truth about Sams/walmart TV's

[Quest]

LCD tv sold these days have such low profit margin (due to razor thin profit and harsh competition in the market littered with some 3-rd world country makes, etc.), so much so that even brand names like Sony is considering bailing out of the market of 1080p or less (and simply focus on higher profit niche market such as 4K,etc.) Pioneer has bailed out completely from plasma TV already, citing similar problems (razor-thin profit margin, harsh competition, etc.)

considerable cost concerns when retooling portion of LCD TV sets to have some "custom" features just to be sold to big-box retailers like Costco or Wallymart have been seen in the past, mostly on higher profit margin stuff (or in other cases, OE manufacturer stuff that can literally stick any brand name you want, so long as you purchase enough from them). In order for major brand name LCD tv manufacturers to make that "custom" one-off model for wallymart and sell them at a razor-thin profit margin, they would have to (a) weigh in the total cost to retool their assembly line and testing lines, (b) consider how many units they want to do for that particular "custom" production runs in order to at least "break-even", not to think about profits.

Also: LCD tv technologies, just like many most-recent electronic consumerables, are changing at a rapid pace, meaning that manufacturer will have to change/retool every 18 months or so in order to churn out newer, better products just to woo the customers.


Because of that, most brand name LCD manufacturers would rather cut them (big box stores) a much sweeter deal instead of resort to starting a one-off "custom" line just to make that "custom" model for big-box store.

It's hard for brand-name TV manufacturers to make money on LCD/LED TV sets these days, and the cost-cutting measures have to come elsewhere.

Just like national brand-name motor oil sold in wallymart: you think they would make a "custom" blend just cater specifically to big-box store only, and differ in chemistry/blend as the ones sold in AutoSone?

My 2c's worth.

Q.

 

[OVERKILL]

Depends on the product but it is certainly possible. It has been done with laptops, they'll have a different part # and different guts but very "similar" specs to something that is a few more bucks that you would buy from the "other guys". These part #'s are exclusive to the box stores. Sometimes they are nary identical to their generic siblings but other times there have been corner/cost cutting measures employed that makes them much less of a bargain than they present themselves as.

 

[Subdued]

I'd never buy that walmart junk, it's full of wax!

 

[Quest]

I know for a fact that Sealy posturepedic mattresses are made/branded for different big box stores, so that they cannot be price matched between the 2 of them (i.e. we have several big box stores in-town that sell Sealy mattresses (with a price match guarantee), but you are guaranteed with no luck if you are to bring flyer A's Sealy mattress of similar model/type to box store B to get a price match, for they are playing that same tricks all over town.

Price protection I'd say.

Q.

 

[rjundi]

I noticed a tortilla product was quite brittle at walmart(albeit cheaper) than the local discount grocery chain. The labeling was the same but sku was different.

I am of the camp the products can be quite different. Same is true on baby clothes. You buy a Carter's baby onsie at Walmart it is almost paper like(and not cheaper in cost) then going to a normal retailer and getting the Carter product of significantly higher quality.

Who knows.

 

[Schmoe]

WOW....some interesting takes on this!!!! The guy from church has been trying to sell his electronic store, but no takers. We are in a small town and I think what business he does have is coming from the town elders that have purchased items from him in the past and do not have that "walmart" mentality, or just simply refuse to shop there. Now, I wouldn't think that buying Mobil 1 from WM would be any different that buying it from autozone or advanced auto parts....but some think maybe so. Geesh, now I'm really wondering......But from most of the comments, it basically fueled my belief that I'm not going to chase ghost parts to try and fix the 43 inch plasma that went out. I replaced two major boards and still didn't work. Could I have replaced more and "hopefully" get it working? Sure...BUT...the 37K dollar question that would linger in my mind would be....what's next? I just lost confidence and didn't want to wonder if the TV is going to turn on or not....especially during an Sooner football game!!!! Some really great comments here. Whatever WM does, you have to admit, they have lower prices on just about everything. Sometimes you can get better deals at other grocery stores, but you got to shop around and drive around, most people, myself included, don't want to do that. Now with fuel prices increasing, the savings would negate each other.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Schmoe
Sometimes you can get better deals at other grocery stores, but you got to shop around and drive around, most people, myself included, don't want to do that. Now with fuel prices increasing, the savings would negate each other.


We've actually found that Harris Teeter, a local premium grocery store similar to Publix, is quite a bit cheaper than Walmart if you pay attention to the sale items and brands and use the shopping card. Harris Teeter often has spaghetti sauce, as just one example, on sale: buy 2, get 3 free. Now, it may not be the particular brand we like, so it might mean buying Ragu instead of Prego or whatever. But man...5 for the price of 2...we load up. They also double coupons every day, and triple them on some days. Without a whole lot of effort, you can walk out with a buggy full of food for 20 bucks. Just an example, from this week's ad:

http://flyer.harristeeter.com/HT_eVIC/ThisWeek/index.jsp?ID3776

Chicken breast is half price. So we go buy 2 or 3 of them and freeze them. Frozen veggies are the same. Harris Teeter brand ice cream is buy 2, get 3 free. Same with 12-packs of Pepsi. The Harris Teeter brand of salsa and spaghetti noodles is also half off.

We don't always find everything on sale, and we don't always buy the same things each time we go. We stock up on what we want when it's on sale and don't buy it off sale unless we really need to. We used to buy food exclusively at Walmart, but have since stopped going there completely, and we save on average about 500 bucks each year at Harris Teeter.

I'm not a Walmart hater, but I did genuinely have the belief, like you, that you can probably save a little bit by hopping from one store to the next, at the expense of more time and fuel. But even the premium grocery store in our area, which I believe does make most of its business on people who don't use coupons, has really saved us a lot of money...and the atmosphere and clientele in the store is far more preferable to us...

 

[Schmoe]

That's a big TEN FOUR on the atmosphere difference....have noticed that a lot. Harris Teeter....there's a store from my past...I'm originally from the Fayetteville area and lived in Augusta Georgia a few years. Still remember AM/PM and Piggly Wiggly.

 

[Rand]

Have you ever shopped a mattress before? Every store calls the mattress a different model, so you cant compare or price match.

Mattress industry is the sleezy-est around.


Walmart might have bargin models.. but if you order it from their website and it has the same model number its the same thing.

If it has a different model number it could just be so you cant price match, or it could have actual differences.

 

[crazyoildude]

i got 2 tv's from wal mart and both of them dropped dead within 2 years but i was smart enough to but the extended warranty and someone came over and fixed it for free..