Amazon, Wal-Mart Throw Down On Who's Offering Better Deals

On Wednesday, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced that its Prime members would be treated to a Black Friday-Style sale that the retailer promised would provide deep discounts on many of their favorite products. The sale has received a lot of attention, and given Amazon's Prime service some time in the limelight.

However, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) sought to cast a shadow over Amazon's sale day this week by announcing its own, three month long sale.

All Customers Treated Equally

Wal-Mart's sale event will also take place on July 15, but the wholesaler said it will continue offering low priced products online for three months afterward. While the company's deals will only be offered online, Wal-Mart said the deals will be available to anyone who browses the company's website.

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Walmart.com CEO Fernando Madeira took a shot at Amazon this week in a blog post saying, "We've heart some retailers are charging $100 to get access to a sale. But the idea of asking customers to pay extra in order to save money just doesn't add up for us."

Amazon Fights Back

Unwilling to ignore Wal-Mart's advances, Amazon fired back in an email to Reuters which said, "We've heart some retailers are charging higher prices for items in their physical stores than they do for the same items online. The idea of charging your in-store customers more than your online customers doesn't add up for us."

With both sales set to begin tomorrow, it remains to be seen whose will be more lucrative.