Next week is a big week at Walmart.  Lots going on across the electronics area.  Straight Talk is launching in our wireless area, Transformers 2 releases, and on October 22nd Windows 7 will launch.

Product will begin setting in stores starting Monday.  There is a street date on all software and computers that have Windows 7 so we cannot sell the product until Thursday, October 22nd.  We will have a lot of activity in the stores Thursday, October 22nd.  If you are an early adopter, many of our stores are open 24 hours so you can come in at midnight to buy a new laptop or the new Operating Software!  We have added several new chassis from HP in stores for the Window 7 launch.  The Windows 7 Operating Systmen is a major improvement from Window Vista and is very user friendly.  Also, many of the suppliers have worked to reduce the amount of time it takes to boot up the system for the first time which makes the experience that much better.

On Thursday, you can also head to walmart.com and you will see a whole lot of Windows 7 information as well as product and a video clip showcasing some of the changes.

We are excited to partner with Microsoft as well as our Suppliers to bring you this new system and products.  Let us know what you think of the Operating Sytem with your comments.

One of my favorite quotes is by Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin: “A penny saved is a penny earned.”  I have always felt like that quote embodies the benefits of being a coupon-clipping, sale-savvy, disciplined shopper. 

Now that I work in retail, I also interpret that quote as a responsibility for assisting our customers in “saving pennies.”  As evidenced by many of the posts on this blog, “saving people money so they can live better” is top-of-mind for the buyers at Walmart.  Not only are we committed to bringing in high-quality, new technology, but we are committed to make it available at an affordable price.

One major expense for our customers is their monthly wireless phone bill.  To help address this expense Walmart worked with Tracfone, the largest prepaid company in America, to test a new service called Straight Talk.  We initially tested the Straight Talk program during this summer in roughly 200 stores.  The customer reaction was immediate.  In fact, the response was so overwhelming that we will be launching this new program nationwide. 

The reason for the strong customer reaction was the amazing price and value on the Straight Talk plans.  Beginning next week the Straight Talk service will be available in over 3,200 stores across the country, as it runs on One of America’s Best Networks (or rather, The Network).  At launch there will be two options available:

$30 a month: “All You Need” Plan which includes 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts and 30MB of mobile web access.

OR

$45 a month: Unlimited 30-day Plan which includes Unlimited minutes, unlimited text and unlimited mobile web access.

On top of the outstanding network coverage and unbelievable price, these plans are both available without a contract, so there are no commitments, no credit checks, and no hidden fees. 

We are very excited to be bringing this new service to our customers across America in order to put a more pennies back in their pockets!

For more information on the service plans that are coming to a store near you visit www.walmart.com/straighttalk/.

I know parents like to get a jump on holiday season shopping. My brother and sister in-law start now and want to be done by Thanksgiving. For me I like the time of the season and enjoy the shopping with the rush of parking, shoppers, Décor and all in the stores.  Enough of that, let me get back to the subject of the blog.

This year walmart.com has partnered with Asus and Disney to offer the Netpal PC Designed for kids aged 6-12, the Disney Netpal by ASUS is durable, with a reinforced mechanical design, and offers a truly magical and engaging computing experience with a unique Disney user interface. With colorful Disney-themed style, your child can explore a web-safe world of technology on their own with ease.

 This little netbookis similar to others, however as you can see above it’s got a Disney twist outside, and also inside.

Each run Windows XP and work like any other netbook, however the parental software is the key to this cool device. Parents can pre-select email correspondence options (Who they are emailing and who’s emailing them), browsers, the websites their kids visit and the programs they use. These permissions can also be scheduled on a calendar, providing parents with a convenient, automated means of granting access on the days and times that they choose.  Parents can also pull up data to determine where children spent time, and for how long, in the Disney Browser.

Along with the controls and scheduling options, there is also TONS of Content. I won’t make this blog to much longer, but check out the product from the link below. Got a question about the product, Use the Q&A option built in on the item page, or you can leave it here for me.

Blue Netpal
Pink Netpal

Happy Shopping,
-Friday

The holidays are coming, which means it is an exciting time to be in retail.  (Unfortunately, that also means the bad weather is coming…  I know people like the fall/winter, but I’d prefer the warm weather all year long.)  At Sam’s Club, lots of the seasonal merchandise is already out in the clubs.  If you see me out in the clubs, it would be hard for you to know if I was looking at the items professionally or personally.
Professionally, I’m looking at the packaging performance.  Did the packaging protect the product during distribution?  Does the in-club presentation meet our expectations?  Can the members quickly understand the product and get it into their carts?
Personally, I love these items!  I think I’ve stopped to watch the Halloween animation items at every club I’ve been in the last 6 weeks.  I’m big fan of the Tombstone that starts off “plain” but then adds scary text that seems to appear out of no where.  It’s fun to watch others see the animation.  When I was at the club last Friday, a dad was holding his little boy up to be able to see the animation of the mirror, shown below.  (The boy wasn’t sure if he thought it was cool, or if he was scared.)
One of the items also has our “Simple Steps” icon: the Member’s Mark LED Pumpkin lights.  This product takes a step by being Energy Star certified.  The LED lights use less energy, which saves Members money.  Check out the actual product box for more details, but we estimate you’d save $4.20/season if you are using ten light strings.
I hope that these items help you have fun this holiday season, and I’d be interested to hear about how your Halloween party/decorations turned out, especially if you bought one of the items from Sam’s.  (you can also check out www.samsclub.com if you are interested in the items)

Haunted Mirror

Tombstone

In-club picture