Wal-Mart Stores Fires First Salvo In Battle For Holiday Shoppers' Cash

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. WMT fired the first salvo Friday in a war for holiday shoppers' cash, putting 20,000 products on sale November 1, nearly a month ahead of the traditional "Black Friday" opening gun. Brian Sozzi wrote on holidays plans for TheStreet.

The holiday shopping season "doesn't start on Black Friday, it starts now,” Wal-Mart merchandising chief Duncan Mac Naughton said in a press release.

Wal-Mart is slated to post results November 13, but warned recently that 2014 sales will grow by just 2 percent to 3 percent, down from its February forecast of 3 percent to 5 percent.

Arch competitor Target Corporation TGT cut its earnings outlook in August and like Wal-Mart, reported flat same-store sales for the second quarter. Amazon.com, Inc.'s AMZN third-quarter North American net sales grew nearly 24 percent.

Wal-Mart, hoping to jump-start holiday sales, also said Friday it's moving its "cyber Monday" online sales promotion to Monday, November 3. Retailers typically reserve the event for the Monday after Thanksgiving.

All season, the company is offering free shipping to customers' homes for orders of $50 or more and the company vows that following Thanksgiving, customers will expect to find "a cashier in every lane."

Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported that Wal-Mart is testing a program that offers to match prices from online retailers like Amazon for potential roll-out this holiday season, but hasn't made a decision.