Price match is often used in a competitive market to compare the price of a product across stores. Price matching matches lower product prices from a store. Price match is one of the pricing management strategies which boosts customers’ loyalty, gives higher returns on investment (ROIs), and generally increases productivity. Price matching favors big retail stores while small businesses can collapse due to intense competition that comes with price matching. Price matching is also a marketing strategy that allows stores to retain customers since they are already getting the lowest price of a product from you; there will be no need for customers to visit other stores. Some stores try to match the lowest price from other stores while some try to beat that lower price by going even lower.
Stores That Price Match
Although stores have different price matching policies, below is the list of stores that price match.
- Lowe’s
- Walmart
- Home Depot
- Target
- Staples
- Bed Bath and Beyond
- Best Buy
- Kohl
- Michaels
- Costco
- Newegg
- The ODP Corporation
Walmart
- The price match policy at Walmart is only limited to their online store www.walmart.com and www.jet.com
- If the price found in a Walmart store is higher than the price on their website, the price can be matched by the store to the price found online.
- When requesting a price match at the register, bear in mind that the manager on duty has the final say on your request, as stated in the policy of the store.
- This implies that your request may be granted or not, based on the discretion of the manager.
- A price match request can be made only if the product in the store and the one online are the same. It has to be the same brand name, size, color, model, etc.
- A product can only be price-matched once a day by each customer. If you are buying two items of the same product, only one of them can be price-matched.
- Specific special offers have been excluded by Walmart from the price matching policy. Some of these offers are products that give you gift cards on purchase, buy-one, get-one-free deals, etc.
- Walmart in states such as Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Alaska will not match the price of products with online prices. This is because prices are generally high in these states.
Best Buy
- Best Buy is a store that majors in the sale of electronics.
- Best Buy will price match their products with prices on Amazon.com, HP.com, Dell.com, TigerDirect.com, and Crutchfield.com.
- Aside from these online stores, Best Buy also matches prices from competitors’ stores, including their online prices.
- Its competitor stores are considered as all electronic stores within a 25-mile radius.
- Unlike Walmart, you cannot request a price match at the register. You have to approach a salesperson or customer service desk and submit proof of the lower price.
- Before the price can be matched, the customer service desk at Best Buy will call the store to confirm the price quoted.
Target
- At Target, you can price match the store’s price with 26 online competitors which are
- Amazon.com
- BedBathandBeyond.com
- Buybuybaby.com
- Apple.com
- Barnesandnoble.com
- CVS.com
- HomeDepot.com
- Costco.com
- Chewy.com
- Gamestop.com
- Kmart.com
- DicksSportingGoods.com
- JCPenney.com
- Lowes.com
- Kohls.com
- Petco.com
- Macys.com
- OfficeDepot.com
- SamsClub.com
- Ulta.com
- Staples.com
- Walmart.com
- Walgreens.com
- Wayfair.com
- Sears.com
- Newegg.com
- BestBuy.com
- All these are in addition to its online store, Target.com
- Aside from prices in online stores, prices can be matched with quoted prices on print ads for local stores, which are stores within a 25-mile radius of Target stores.
- Price match can be requested at the checkout point
- Target does not match prices in Alaska and Hawaii.
- You can use more than one price match for as many quantities of a product you want to purchase, unlike Walmart.
Lowe’s
- The price matching policy at Lowe’s allows price matching with local stores within a 10-mile radius and the following online stores
- Amazon.com
- Target.com
- Walmart.com
- Wayfair.com
- HomeDepot.com
- Macys.com
- BestBuy.com
- BedBathandBeyond.com
- AceHardware.com
- JCPenny.com
- TractorSupply.com
- Price match can be demanded at the register with a proof of quote which can be a printed ad, app, smartphone display, printout, photo, etc.
- Lowe’s does not match prices with third-party sellers on Amazon.com and Walmart.com
- The quantity of a product that can be price-matched is not specific.
- Special order products do not get price matched.
Conclusion
Price matching is a great and smart way to save money when you shop in local stores. It is, however, not the only way of saving money. Consider other ways of saving on groceries such as gift cards, coupons, special offers, etc, before going for price matching.
FAQs
- Do stores offer price matching during holidays?
Yes. Some stores offer special price matching policies during holidays
- Can a product with a gift card be price matched?
In most stores, the answer is no. Special offer products are often excluded from the price match policy.
