Shopping at Walmart is getting a lot cheaper

US food prices fell for nine consecutive months, one of the longest food deflation periods in the past 50 years.

We compared the price of 34 items in Richmond stores in Virginia State Tuesday with the price of the same item in the same store in December 2015.

Since the package size of some products has been changed during the last year, we calculate these differences as final prices.

We found that egg prices were the lowest (67% to 82 cents for a dozen eggs); goat cheese (56% to 1.99 dollars for 4 ounces); pineapple (for each fruit Peanut butter (40 oz lower, 28% down 3.14 dollars), and extra virgin olive oil (17 oz lower, down 23% $ 2.98)

Costs of some products, such as 2 liter Coca Cola bottles ($ 1 to $ 1.48 per bottle in December) and rapeseed oil (up to $ 2.88 in a 48 ounce bottle, $ 1.98 in December) are December 2015 It is much higher than that.

Wal-Mart may raise the prices of these products and offset the plunge costs of meat, chicken, fish, eggs. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the prices of these items have fallen 5% since August 2015. This is the biggest fall in the food category during this period.

Wal-Mart's customers believe that low prices are the most important reason for shopping. The average income of Wal-Mart customers in the U.S. is lower than the national average. The 2006 Wal-Mart report also stated that Wal-Mart's customers are sensitive to rising utility costs and gasoline prices. According to polls, 76% of voters shopping at Wal-Mart voted weekly George W Bush after the 2004 presidential election, only 23% supported Senator John Kerry. When targeting similar retailers' indicators in the United States, frequent Wal-Mart shoppers were rated as the most politically conservative shoppers. As a result, as of 2014, "Most Americans who prefer to shop at Wal-Mart (54%) are against gay marriage and 40% agree to same-sex marriage."

How did Wal-Mart do it? According to Derek Thompson of Atlantic, the company has accumulated power through "cheap talent". In the era before Sears built a shop at the edge of the city, Wal - Mart was built in a rural area. This means cheaper lands, cheaper labor, and cheaper advertising costs. It will also use the size to persuade suppliers to produce near the Wal-Mart store. This means that you can return the truck 60% to the distribution center. After the merger, Wal-Mart adopted the famous 'always inexpensive' strategy.

In 1990, Wal-Mart opened its first Bud's Discount City in Bentonville. Like Big Lots, Bud's acts as a closing store. When the Wal-Mart store leaves and moves to the new Super Mall, many places are opened to fill the Mall's lease. In 1997 all Bud's Discount City stores were closed or changed to Wal-Mart's discount store. As of October 31, 2018, there were 388 Wal-Mart discount stores in 41 states and Puerto Rico. Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Columbia, West Virginia and Wyoming are the only states and regions where no discount stores are operated.