TVs Land a Starring Role in Walmart Holiday Plans

If you'll be shopping for a TV this holiday season, how does a 32-inch TCL Roku TV for $125 sound? Or a 70-inch Vizio 4K smart TV for less than $1,000?

Those are two of the limited holiday deals Walmart disclosed yesterday during a press visit to one of its New Jersey stores. The chain didn't discuss its plans for Black Friday at all, saying those details would be revealed later. We're expecting a Walmart Black Friday ad to be unveiled Nov. 11, though it could be leaked earlier.

There weren't a lot of announcements on specific deals at the Walmart event, though the company did say that the $125 television will be available throughout the whole holiday season at last year's Black Friday price. The set looks like the TCL 32S3750 we highlighted last year as one of our Top 10 Black Friday TV Deals. In 2015 it was available from Amazon and Walmart.

But a year can make a big difference in TV pricing, and the deal doesn't look quite as good now. When we recently checked, the set was already available for that amount on Walmart.com, though it's selling for $160 to $170 at other retailers, including Target.

It looks like Walmart holiday plans will emphasize lower-priced 4K UHD TVs, which many consumers will be buying for the first time. For example, the company said it would have a 70-inch Vizio 4K TV for less than $1,000. The model name wasn't given, but we think it could be the 70-inch D-series set (the Vizio D70-D3) currently in our TV ratings, which sells for $1,100. 

At the store, Walmart showed a 60-inch Vizio E-series television, which is one of its SmartCast models, saying it would be on sale. The company didn't provide a price. This set could be the Vizio E60u-D3, which sells for about $700 now.

Walmart said its online TV assortment would be broader than what you'll find in stores, with some bigger and pricier models. For example, you'll be able to buy a 85-inch Samsung set and a 75-inch LG with a curved screen at special prices.

Another Walmart holiday tactic will be to offer more exclusive models across many product categories. In electronics, it said there would be a special version of the Xbox One—offered in a unique color, with exclusive software—as well Xiaomi's Mi-box, a Roku-like streaming media player that's currently available at Walmart for $69.

There will also be a 3D virtual-reality drone, which lets the user get a point-of-view experience flying the drone by wearing VR goggles. It looks like the Promark P70 VR Drone, which Walmart currently sells for $148. The chain didn't say what the sale price will be.

Other journalists at the event seemed to be impressed that Walmart will have an exclusive on a gigantic Disney Princess Carriage. The Consumer Reports tech team doesn't have a testing protocol in place for that product category. 

Improving Checkout and Pickup

The giant chain said it is working hard to improve the hectic holiday shopping experience for customers, mainly by expanding in-store help and speeding up the checkout process. For example, this year Walmart will employ yellow-vested "holiday helpers" who can direct shoppers to registers with shorter lines, open additional registers as needed, and even run off and grab a forgotten item while a customer stays in line.

Walmart is also significantly upping the number of products available via its pickup service, where you can order items online and pick them up in the store. And it says it's adding more pickup staff. If you use the retailer's app and choose location tracking, it will track you en route to the store and start getting your items ready as soon as you arrive.

That's just Walmart's first salvo in the battle for 2016 holiday shoppers. We'll provide more specifics on its Black Friday deals when they're announced, and let you know how good they really are.

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