Walmart to Launch Price Comparison Tool This Summer

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on June 5 announced its Savings Catcher will launch nationwide this summer. The system compares the costs of Walmart’s products to that of competitors, and, if the competitors’ prices are lower, it pays the customer the difference in the form of an online Walmart gift card.

To use the system, customers must enter a receipt number into the Savings Catcher, and it will compare the prices of every item on the receipt to a database of advertised prices of competitors that’s provided by an undisclosed third party. The prices are matched to stores based on geographic location, according to a press release from Walmart.  

Right now, the feature is available in seven metro areas throughout the country through Walmart’s website. Nearly one million receipts have been processed using Savings Catcher since Walmart launched its pilot this spring, according to the press release. The tool ranks first on the retailer’s list of concepts tested to-date.

In addition to the opening up the technology to the rest of the country, the summer launch will extend the service to the store’s mobile app and will expand the number of products that will be looked at, bringing it up to about 80,000 grocery items, consumables purchases and general merchandise, according to the press release.

 “We are going to win by integrating digital and physical,” Walmart U.S. chief marketing and merchandising officer Duncan Mac Naughton said in the press release. “Savings Catcher and its expanding capabilities are just one example of that.”