Black Friday Deals

In a deal between behemoths, Walmart is launching a Facebook app called My Local Walmart that allows its 9.5 million Facebook followers to find out about the deals and events at their local stores. The combination of Walmart’s 150 million shoppers and Facebook’s 165 million American users creates a powerful partnership, but is it a good thing?

The customized marketing tailors content for each of Walmart’s U.S. stores, according to Ad Age. The app will enable the retailer to target its marketing based on the seasons and such regional events as Nascar races and fishing tournaments. And to add to the excitement of holiday shopping, users will be able to download maps of the floor plans of their local store to their smart phones to help them better locate those much coveted Black Friday discounts.

But behind all this go-local movement is a concern raised by our sister site, The Consumerist, that this app gives Walmart access to your Facebook profile information for their mega-marketing machine. In the world of mom-and-pop stores, it would be like pop knowing a bit too much about your life and blabbing to mom, who then finds a way to make a buck off the scoop.

A public hearing for an additional seven hours for Walmart will be heard at the Chesterfield County Planning Commission during its meeting next Tuesday, October 18.

Walmart, located at Iron Bridge Road, is seeking the ability to stay open the additional hours on Thanksgiving night and into the day of Black Friday for reasons of traffic control and avoiding long lines during their morning opening on Black Friday.  In the application, management stated, “We experience hundreds of customers waiting outside our facility in line to shop because we are not open overnight.”  Presently the hours of operation are 6 a.m. until 11 p.m.  The public hearing is a comment period on the request for Walmart to be open from 6 a.m. Thanksgiving morning until 11 p.m. Friday at the regular closing time. 

Three public hearings will be held during the afternoon work session at 3 p.m.; Case Number 11PWO199 in the Bermuda Magisterial District. Deferred from a previous session by the Planning Commission to their Oct. 18 public hearing, SA Martin Investments, LLC requests a modification to development standards for paving and curb and gutter to permit gravel parking and drives for SA Martin in a Commercial (C-3) and Agricultural (A) District on approximately 5 acres located at 13720 Jefferson Davis Highway. 

The other two hearings are in the Midlothian and Clover Hill Magisterial districts.

Twelve public hearings are scheduled for the evening sessions which begin at 6 p.m., seven hearings concern the Bermuda District, two in the Dale District, two in Clover Hill District and one in Midlothian District.

Hearings will be heard in the following order:
Case number 09SN0141 in the Dale Magisterial District.  Deferred from a previous session to next Tuesday’s session, Cascade Creek Homes, Inc. requests rezoning and amendment of zoning district map from Residential (R-9) to Neighborhood Business (C-2) on 12.5 acres located in the northeast corner of the intersection of Cogbill Road and Five Forks Lane. 

Also deferred from a previous session, Case Number 11SN0252 in the Bermuda Magisterial District, Murphy’s Law Billiards & Sports Pub requests conditional used planned development approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit an off-track betting facility in a Neighborhood Business (C-2) District on 5.2 acres fronting 230 feet on the east line of Iron Bridge Road at its intersection with Chesterfield Meadows Drive, also fronting 650 feet on the south line of Chesterfield Meadows Drive, 120 feet west of Memory Lane. 

Case Number 12SN0116 in Dale Magisterial District, Jack R. Wilson, III requests conditional use approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit a child care center in Agricultural (A) and Light Industrial (I-1) Districts on 24.3 acres located in the southwest corner of Court Yard and Iron Bridge Roads. 

Case Number 12SNO117 in the Bermuda Magisterial District, Smith Iron And Metal Co., Inc. requests conditional use approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit a marine terminal in a Heavy Industrial (I-3) District on 32.3 acres fronting 60 feet on the north line of Bellwood Road, 250 feet west of the southern terminus of Bellwood Road. 

Case Number 12SN0118 in the Bermuda Magisterial District, Elmer Properties Chesterfield II LLC requests conditional use planned development approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit exceptions to Ordinance requirements relative to signage in a General Business (C-5) District on 9.3 acres fronting 935 feet on the east line of Interstate 95, 1860 feet south of Ruffin Mill Road.  This case will be heard by the Board of Supervisors at its Oct. 26 meeting.

Case Number 12SN0119 in Bermuda Magisterial District, Courtney D. Vipperman requests conditional use approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit a family day care home in an Agricultural (A) District on 9.6 acres known as 5615 Centralia Road. 

Case Number 1SN0121 in Clover Hill Magisterial District, Clover Hill Baptist Church requests conditional use approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit a child care center in an Agricultural (A) District on 10 acres known as 3100 Old Courthouse Road.

Case Number 12SN0122 in Bermuda Magisterial District, Christian Life Church requests conditional use approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit a church in a Heavy Industrial (I-3) District on 6.5 acres located in the northwest corner of Osborne and Old Stage Roads.

Case Number 12SN0123 in Bermuda Magisterial District Balzer & Associates, Inc., and Second Baptist Church request conditional use planned development approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit exceptions to Ordinance requirements relative to setbacks in Agricultural (A) and Neighborhood Business (C-2) District on .6 acre front 85 feet on the south line of Iron Bridge Road, 370 feet west of West Hundred Road.

Case Number 12SN0124 in Clover Hill Magisterial District, GSW, Inc. requests rezoning and amendment of zoning district map from Agricultural (A) to Community Business (C-3) on 1.7 acres fronting 20 feet on the south line of Genito Road, 990 feet west of Hull Street Road.

Case Number 12SN0125 in Midlothian Magisterial District, DKS Associates, Inc., and Donald K. Spriggs, owner request rezoning and amendment of zoning district map from Neighborhood Office (O-1) to Convenience Business (C-1) on .4 acre known as 2743 Buford Road.

Case Number 12SN0146 in Bermuda Magisterial District, Walmart Inc. requests amendment of zoning (Case 89SN0110) and amendment of zoning district map relative to hours of operation in a General Business (5) District on 20.4 acres fronting 440 feet on the south line of Iron Bridge Road, 225 feet east of South Chalkley Road; also fronting 820 feet on the west line of South Chalkley Road, 195 feet south of Iron Bridge Road.  This case will be heard by the Board of Supervisors during their October 26 meeting.

All persons favoring, opposing or interested in the above are invited to appear during the Commission’s meeting on Tuesday, October 18.

A public hearing for an additional seven hours for Walmart will be heard at the Chesterfield County Planning Commission during its meeting next Tuesday, October 18.

Walmart, located at Iron Bridge Road, is seeking the ability to stay open the additional hours on Thanksgiving night and into the day of Black Friday for reasons of traffic control and avoiding long lines during their morning opening on Black Friday.  In the application, management stated, “We experience hundreds of customers waiting outside our facility in line to shop because we are not open overnight.”  Presently the hours of operation are 6 a.m. until 11 p.m.  The public hearing is a comment period on the request for Walmart to be open from 6 a.m. Thanksgiving morning until 11 p.m. Friday at the regular closing time. 

Three public hearings will be held during the afternoon work session at 3 p.m.; Case Number 11PWO199 in the Bermuda Magisterial District. Deferred from a previous session by the Planning Commission to their Oct. 18 public hearing, SA Martin Investments, LLC requests a modification to development standards for paving and curb and gutter to permit gravel parking and drives for SA Martin in a Commercial (C-3) and Agricultural (A) District on approximately 5 acres located at 13720 Jefferson Davis Highway. 

The other two hearings are in the Midlothian and Clover Hill Magisterial districts.

Twelve public hearings are scheduled for the evening sessions which begin at 6 p.m., seven hearings concern the Bermuda District, two in the Dale District, two in Clover Hill District and one in Midlothian District.

Hearings will be heard in the following order:
Case number 09SN0141 in the Dale Magisterial District.  Deferred from a previous session to next Tuesday’s session, Cascade Creek Homes, Inc. requests rezoning and amendment of zoning district map from Residential (R-9) to Neighborhood Business (C-2) on 12.5 acres located in the northeast corner of the intersection of Cogbill Road and Five Forks Lane. 

Also deferred from a previous session, Case Number 11SN0252 in the Bermuda Magisterial District, Murphy’s Law Billiards & Sports Pub requests conditional used planned development approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit an off-track betting facility in a Neighborhood Business (C-2) District on 5.2 acres fronting 230 feet on the east line of Iron Bridge Road at its intersection with Chesterfield Meadows Drive, also fronting 650 feet on the south line of Chesterfield Meadows Drive, 120 feet west of Memory Lane. 

Case Number 12SN0116 in Dale Magisterial District, Jack R. Wilson, III requests conditional use approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit a child care center in Agricultural (A) and Light Industrial (I-1) Districts on 24.3 acres located in the southwest corner of Court Yard and Iron Bridge Roads. 

Case Number 12SNO117 in the Bermuda Magisterial District, Smith Iron And Metal Co., Inc. requests conditional use approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit a marine terminal in a Heavy Industrial (I-3) District on 32.3 acres fronting 60 feet on the north line of Bellwood Road, 250 feet west of the southern terminus of Bellwood Road. 

Case Number 12SN0118 in the Bermuda Magisterial District, Elmer Properties Chesterfield II LLC requests conditional use planned development approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit exceptions to Ordinance requirements relative to signage in a General Business (C-5) District on 9.3 acres fronting 935 feet on the east line of Interstate 95, 1860 feet south of Ruffin Mill Road.  This case will be heard by the Board of Supervisors at its Oct. 26 meeting.

Case Number 12SN0119 in Bermuda Magisterial District, Courtney D. Vipperman requests conditional use approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit a family day care home in an Agricultural (A) District on 9.6 acres known as 5615 Centralia Road. 

Case Number 1SN0121 in Clover Hill Magisterial District, Clover Hill Baptist Church requests conditional use approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit a child care center in an Agricultural (A) District on 10 acres known as 3100 Old Courthouse Road.

Case Number 12SN0122 in Bermuda Magisterial District, Christian Life Church requests conditional use approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit a church in a Heavy Industrial (I-3) District on 6.5 acres located in the northwest corner of Osborne and Old Stage Roads.

Case Number 12SN0123 in Bermuda Magisterial District Balzer & Associates, Inc., and Second Baptist Church request conditional use planned development approval and amendment of zoning district map to permit exceptions to Ordinance requirements relative to setbacks in Agricultural (A) and Neighborhood Business (C-2) District on .6 acre front 85 feet on the south line of Iron Bridge Road, 370 feet west of West Hundred Road.

Case Number 12SN0124 in Clover Hill Magisterial District, GSW, Inc. requests rezoning and amendment of zoning district map from Agricultural (A) to Community Business (C-3) on 1.7 acres fronting 20 feet on the south line of Genito Road, 990 feet west of Hull Street Road.

Case Number 12SN0125 in Midlothian Magisterial District, DKS Associates, Inc., and Donald K. Spriggs, owner request rezoning and amendment of zoning district map from Neighborhood Office (O-1) to Convenience Business (C-1) on .4 acre known as 2743 Buford Road.

Case Number 12SN0146 in Bermuda Magisterial District, Walmart Inc. requests amendment of zoning (Case 89SN0110) and amendment of zoning district map relative to hours of operation in a General Business (5) District on 20.4 acres fronting 440 feet on the south line of Iron Bridge Road, 225 feet east of South Chalkley Road; also fronting 820 feet on the west line of South Chalkley Road, 195 feet south of Iron Bridge Road.  This case will be heard by the Board of Supervisors during their October 26 meeting.

All persons favoring, opposing or interested in the above are invited to appear during the Commission’s meeting on Tuesday, October 18.

Walmart is taking advantage of the local deals fad by launching its own Groupon-clone. However, Walmart's service has a few distinguishing traits that set it apart from the throngs of other daily deals services.

Announced in a press release to the AP, Walmart's localized deals aggregator is now live--but only on Facebook. Unlike its competition, My Local Walmart does not have a standalone Web site; the service is built entirely into the social network. This strategy taps into Walmart's almost 9.5 million Facebook fans and eliminates the hassle of bookmarking a new site, joining an email list, or downloading an app.

Walmart's Facebook page walks new users through the process of finding your nearest Walmart retail location out of its more than 3,500 stores, "liking" it, and then receiving messages on deals, events, and new store items. A Walmart rep also tells the AP that, in the future, the company will build a recommendation engine into My Local Walmart based on products each fan "likes."

With so many Groupons and Groupon clones out there--including LivingSocial, Woot, Google Offers, Amazon's variety of deals sites and apps, and Bing's recently-announced deals page -- it's amazing that consumers aren't completely sick of them. And we're really not: a recent Cornell study discovered that enthusiasm in group-based daily deals hasn't waned.

So if you're also not fed up with the mania of Black Friday, signing up for My Local Walmart might be a good way to shave a couple dollars off this year's holiday shopping budget.

Walmart is known for its excellent deals, low prices and wide selection of quality merchandise. The major big-box retailer serves millions of customers every year, enticing them with low prices and deep savings. The nation's largest employer is also well-known for its Black Friday deals. Wal-Mart Black Friday deals are the holy grail of the die hard bargain shopper, and many customers camp out overnight to get a piece of the low-price action. Walmart's 2011 Black Friday sale event promises not to disappoint, with Black Friday sale information already leaking to major online sites.
For Black Friday 2011, Walmart will roll out its old standbys—deeply discounted electronics, housewares, clothing and of course, toys. This year, Walmart is announcing discounts on its LCD and HDTV televisions. The Element 40" screen television, regularly priced at $349 will be slashed. Walmart intentionally keeps its exact Black Friday specials a secret to prevent competitors from undercutting their prices. In 2010, Walmart practically got into a pricing war with retail giant KMart, with both stores attempting to offer the lowest prices on the same products.

Toys

This years hottest sales are on toys. Walmart will undoubtedly roll back prices on all of the season's hottest toys and video games. The recent release of the newest Madden game has boosted interest in Walmart's Black Friday sale where fans will be looking for deep discounts on popular games for Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii. In 2010, the popular games, regularly priced at up to $49.95 were slashed for $7 and $8. Walmart will also slash prices on popular toys like V-Tech, Fisher Price and Mattel. Zhu Zhu pet toy hamsters are also expected to be on sale as the popularity of these furry creatures has not lessened since the 2010 holiday shopping season. Barbie dolls for $5 and the popular Bratz dolls that sold for $8 last year are expected to be on sale again this year.

Housewares

For the shopper looking for the best home gifts, Walmart's deals can't be beat. Popular kitchen appliances such as Rival toasters and waffle irons, electric griddles and coffeemakers are expected to be at the top of this year's list of best Walmart Black Friday deals. Prices for popular housewares are expected to be up to 60% off. Some deals may even feature buy one get one free offers.

Electronics

The holy grail of bargain shopping is Walmart's Black Friday electronics deals. Past sales have included the Emerson 32" LCD HTDV for $198, the Canon Sureshot digital camera for $59 (regularly $129.99) and Magnavox Blu-Ray players for $68. The key to scoring big in the electronics department is to get there early and head to the electronics first. Most stores will open on midnight, several hours earlier than retailers that traditionally open at 4:00 a.m.

For the shoppers who prefer to score their holiday buys online, Walmart is offering excellent "cyber Monday" deals. Last year's biggest grabs included free shipping on over 60,000 products. In addition, the retail giant will offer some web-only exclusives that will blow their competitors out of the water and give customers a strong incentive to shop online.

Lonrho (LON:LONR) has revealed a new export contract with major US supermarket retailer Walmart.
Through the deal the company’s seafood division, Oceanfresh, will supply 500 Walmart stores with its pure Hake fillets starting from October onwards.
“Lonrho is delighted that Oceanfresh has been appointed as a fish supplier to the world's largest retailer Walmart,” said chairman David Lenigas.
The company also said that it has expanded its production capabilities as a result of the deal, which will add around one hundred new jobs in South Africa.
The hake supplied by Oceanfresh is caught from the Benguela current off the coast of Southern Africa, fished using sustainable methods.
“Lonrho understands the importance of responsible fishing policies and prides itself on delivering the best quality products that are wild caught and from well managed and sustainable sources,” Lenigas added.
“Oceanfresh has been diligent in working with the World Wildlife Fund's sustainable sourcing program to ensure that fish stocks are properly managed and that catch quotas are within sustainable levels to maintain wild fish stocks for future generations.”
Today’s deals is the latest example of Lonrho’s ongoing expansion, as the African conglomerate pursues its strategy to build a major agriculture and food supply business that delivers from ‘field to the fork’.
Last week Lonrho unveiled a £4.5 million deal to acquire a leading airborne export business Grindrod PCA. The deal added vital export and logistics infrastructure to the Lonrho agri-business, which is trying to grow to meet high levels of demand from major international food retailers. 
Grindrod PCA, headquartered at Johannesburg International Airport, is a leading exporter of fruit, vegetables and fish into the global market.
Specifically the acquisition adds cold store capacity, it will allow for more efficient handling of perishable goods and it will create potential cost savings. Grindrod PCA operates international standard cold store and logistics facilities in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and George.  
Lonrho’s vertically integrated agri-business already comprises several companies that grows, packs and delivers food produce to retailers both in Africa and around the world – with major supermarket clients in USA, Europe and the Far East.

For some time, Walmart's (WMT) website has had a "Clearance" section -- and it had been growing: There are 2,921 items for sale in that section, and the prices are remarkably cheap. But the walmart.com clearance program is testing a new, less customer-friendly wrinkle.

Now, some of the clearance products offered online have to be picked up at stores unless the customer wants to pay for home shipping. It's not clear why the company is trying this, but it may be because the prices on those products are so good, management hopes to use them as incentive to lure shoppers to their stores. The cost -- either to the world's largest retailer or to its customers -- to ship them would dwarf their prices.

Walmart seems to be offloading inventory and hope consumers will make additional purchases.

The beta program requiring buyers to pick up online clearance specials at brick-and-mortar outlets has clear potential benefits to the retailer, but it has its risks as well. Yes, those online customers may well buy other products when they visit Walmart stores. And Walmart could even price those clearance products to lose money under the theory that the other items bought by the shoppers picking them up will make the total order a profit -- the classic "loss leader" strategy.

The movement to force Internet retailers to collect sales tax is designed to level the playing field between so-called “Main Street” shops and online rivals like Amazon.com Inc.

The movement, however, could have the unintended effect of paving the way for retail behemoth Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to further consolidate its market power into the online world, if price comparisons are any indication.

MarketWatch conducted an informal shopping expedition at the websites of Wal-Mart WMT +0.15% , its chief brick-and-mortar rival Target Corp. TGT -0.22% and Amazon AMZN +1.07% . The findings show that despite having to charge taxes, Wal-Mart still holds a slight edge over Amazon in price, and a much greater advantage over Target.

MarketWatch priced five identical items at the three outlets — a videogame, a best-selling novel, a case of golf balls, an iPod Touch and a 32-inch flat-panel television. With taxes and shipping included, the final total for the Wal-Mart shopping trip was $672.15 compared with $672.77 for Amazon, a difference of 62 cents. Target’s total was $732.86.

Yet Wal-Mart — accused over the years of decimating mom-and-pop stores in numerous small towns — has joined with other retailers to lobby for mandatory sales taxes on online transactions. Company officials say that they’ve joined with other brick-and-mortar companies to help them level the playing field.

“Main Street businesses and retailers are losing out as online-only retailers are gaming the system and creating an unfair playing field,” Wal-Mart spokesman Daniel Morales said in an e-mail. “This is bad public policy. Tax policies should not be any different for online-only retailers than those for retailers that operate brick and mortar operations.”

But the ultimate effect of an online sales tax is that Wal-Mart may be able to relegate Amazon to a pricing category that is closer to Target and other retailers, while putting some distance between itself and everyone else.

Amazon has fought against online taxes in the states where they’re currently levied, including California, New York, North Carolina, Colorado, Illinois, Rhode Island and Connecticut. This week, Amazon said it would seek a referendum in California to have voters determine whether it should charge the 7.25% sales tax in that state, the highest of any in the nation.

 

Amazon ready to fight California

Amazon vows to fight a tax proposal by California's legislature.

“This is a referendum on jobs and investment in California,” Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president of public policy, said in an e-mailed statement. “We support this referendum against the recent sales tax legislation because, with unemployment at well over 11%, Californians deserve a voice and a choice about jobs, investment and the state’s economic future.”

California’s law, which went into effect July 1, allows the charging of taxes through an online retailer’s affiliates that refer customers to Amazon and are based in the state. As a result, Amazon has cut ties with 10,000 California affiliates while it seeks to resolve the sales tax issue.

The MarketWatch survey doesn’t prove that Wal-Mart will beat Amazon on all pricing; but it does indicate that it can compete with the online retailer. The study chose items that were available at all three online outlets of Amazon, Wal-Mart and Target in the same exact model and/or quantity.

A more detailed study from William Blair retail analyst Mark Miller published earlier this week found that Amazon averaged an 11% price discount compared to its brick-and-mortar rivals. The study looked at a total of 2,400 items, or 100 items for each of the 24 retailers included in the survey. See full story on Amazon report from William Blair.

While items such as shaving cream, toothpaste and laundry detergent are sold at all three, the exact same variations on a brand usually are not available in the same quantities at all three. Target may offer, for example, a particular variation on Colgate toothpaste only in packages of two tubes, while it might be six tubes at Wal-Mart and only one at Amazon.

But Wal-Mart seems to consistently beat competitors in online sales by keeping its shipping costs low. And those low shipping costs come in handy in several cases. One interesting find is that Amazon may fall well short of Wal-Mart in the low pricing department on one of its cornerstone businesses — book sales.

Breaking out the hardcover best-seller, “Smokin’ Seventeen” — one of the items on the MarketWatch shopping list — shows that Amazon charges more than $2 more to get that item to consumers than does Wal-Mart.

So the final cost to consumers is $18.50 from Wal-Mart and $19.20 from Amazon. For the record, Wal-Mart charges one penny less than Amazon for the base price of the book, $15.20 vs. $15.21. And the total cost to buy the book at Target, including shipping and taxes, is $22.17.

Danny Diaz is spokesman for the Alliance for Main Street Fairness, a group that seeks to force online retailers to charge sales taxes. He says regardless of what Wal-Mart is charging, a raft of retailers are at a disadvantage when trying to compete with Amazon.

“Any business should be required to compete on the price of the product. They shouldn’t have to compete on whether they collect the sales tax,” Diaz said. “Ultimately, this is an issue about fairness.”