CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A basket of promotionally priced items at a Target store in northeast Massachusetts was less expensive than a basket of everyday-low-priced items at a Wal-Mart located less than five miles away, according to a study by Kantar Retail here — the third time in five surveys that Target's overall basket was lower-priced than Wal-Mart's.
The survey, conducted in January, compared prices at single units of Target and Wal-Mart on 39 items — 13 edible groceries, 12 non-edible groceries and 14 HBC items. Although the same stores and items have been included in each of the five studies, "the results are longitudinally representative but not necessarily nationally representative," a Kantar representative told SN.
According to the latest study, Target's basket was 2.8% less expensive than Wal-Mart's, driven by health and beauty care items, Kantar said. However, Wal-Mart was 1% lower on edible items only and 3.4% less expensive on non-edibles only, while Target was 7.3% lower on just HBC items.
Excluding promotions, Target's total basket was only 50 cents less than Wal-Mart's.
In other survey findings:
• Wal-Mart's private-label basket was priced 3.6% below Target's. In addition, Wal-Mart's private-label basket items were 42% less expensive than branded counterparts, while Target's private labels were 38% less expensive.
• About one-fourth of Target's basket items were at least 10% less expensive than Wal-Mart's — an increase over previous surveys.
• Fewer than 15% of Target's basket items were between 10% and 30% more expensive than Wal-Mart's, and none was more than 30% over Wal-Mart, representing a shift since the previous two studies.
