The online research team for Clark Howard, the financial guru of radio, recently compared Target and Walmart's online prices.
The researchers chose 30 branded items — among them laundry detergent, dryer sheets, toilet paper, deodorant, shampoo, energy bars, ground coffee and toys, plus a few more expensive items such as a Shark stick vacuum, Keurig coffeemaker and a Magic Bullet blender.
You can go to bit.ly/2IYIA1n to see the specific items and the individual prices. But for the 30 items, Walmart's bill came to $588.58 and Target's came to $593.31, a difference of less than $5.
With less than a 1 percent price variance, it's a sign that a price war could be brewing between Target and Walmart.
Last year, Target CEO Brian Cornell told investors: "We believe that consumer perception of value at Target has not reflected how low our out-of-the-door prices are." The retailer also lowered some prices as part of its overall strategy.
Further proof that many consumers aren't noticing Target's price reductions lies in Clark Howard's price check.
Take nearly any price comparison between the two discounters in the past five years, and Walmart's prices were usually found to be about 3 to 5 percent lower. But most of the price comparisons done by the research firms, bloggers and consumer sites don't mention that when people use their Target RedCards, they receive an additional 5 percent discount.
No comparison should list only Target's prices with the RedCard discount, but the no-annual-fee credit card deserves a mention since it is an easy way to save more.
