Wal-Mart looks to shake winter with spring sale

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Wal-Mart is hoping the same storms that kept shoppers away in the winter, will bring them into stores in the spring.

Starting today, Wal-Mart is having a weeklong sale of up to 50 percent on more than 60 outdoor items, including lawn mowers and bags of mulch.

The world’s largest retailer said the move, which pits it against home-improvement rivals Home Depot and Lowe’s, is aimed at luring shoppers who are looking to restore patios and gardens that were battered by severe winter weather.

Retailers don’t typically discount new spring merchandise so quickly and aggressively, opting instead to reduce prices throughout the season. This spring, however, will be more important to many retailers that were hurt by strong winter storms that kept shoppers indoors and forced hundreds of stores to close. Industry watchers say other retailers are likely to follow Wal-Mart and offer their own promotions on home-improvement merchandise, which has high profit margins.

In the past, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which is based in Bentonville, Ark., typically offered discounts on outdoor items or offered some special buys throughout the season. This sale, which ends March 29, marks the first time it has pulled the items together to kick off a spring sale, Wal-Mart said.