Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s prices on toys it expects to be bestsellers this holiday season are lower than competitors Target Corp. and Sears Holdings Corp.'s Kmart chain, according to a Bloomberg Industries analysis.
Prices for a group of 15 toys that included Elmo Rocks from Hasbro Inc. and Leapfrog Enterprises Inc.'s Leap Pad Explorer are 9 percent higher at Target and 13 percent more expensive at Kmart, according to a report led by Poonam Goyal, a Bloomberg Industries analyst.
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, also had lower prices than Amazon.com Inc. on 18 items and Toys 'R' Us Inc. on 12 comparable toys, the study showed.
U.S. retail sales growth will slow to 2.8 percent during the holiday season this year amid decelerating job growth, a weak housing market and a volatile stock market, the National Retail Federation said last week. The increase to an estimated $465.6 billion in sales in November and December compares with a 5.2 percent jump last year, the Washington-based NRF said.
Shares of Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., rose 0.8 percent to close Friday at $55.46. Minneapolis-based Target advanced 0.4 percent to $52.95, and Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears gained 2.9 percent to $71.54.
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