Wal-Mart seeks ex-customers with old mantra

NEW YORK – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is hammering home its low-price message with a new ad campaign in a bid to bring back customers who no longer trust it to save them money.

The campaign, starting Monday, bears the slogan “Low Prices. Every Day. On Everything” and features five 30-second commercials that range from an Easter egg hunt to a customer asking for a price match.

“We have lost our customer confidence … in having the lowest price,” said Duncan MacNaughton, chief merchandising officer at Wal-Mart in an interview with the Associated Press.

The new commercials come as Wal-Mart’s U.S. business is smarting because of mistakes it made on price and selection and as it faces increasing price competition from dollar chains and Amazon.com.

In fact, its slogan “Save Money. Live Better,” in use for several years, now appears in smaller type in the ads, underscoring Wal-Mart’s shift in strategy to hammer hard that it has everything shoppers need at rock-bottom prices.

Wal-Mart is restoring thousands of items it had stopped carrying in an overzealous bid to clean up its stores, from fishing supplies in Dallas to snowblowers in Minneapolis, and has returned to its “Everyday Low Prices” roots.

To change perceptions, the company also said it is directing store employees to comb through competitors’ advertisements so price matches at the register are easier.

Wal-Mart said it is adding 8,500 items to its inventory, 11 percent more in an average store.