Wal-Mart ended its buy-one-get-one-free price-matching policy this month in exchange for a new smartphone application called Savings Catcher.
The discount retailer started price-matching coupons from its competitors, including top rival Publix, in October of last year. Customers could bring in competitor coupons and ask Wal-Mart to match the same product’s price.
Instead, those savings will now go through its Savings Catcher app or Wal-Mart’s website. The app, which launched in August, allows customers to enter their receipt numbers and search for the lowest price among nearby competitor stores.
The price difference is then racked up in customers’ accounts and can be used toward future purchases online or in the store.
“You’re making money every time you shop here and scan a receipt,” said Tammy Pringle, customer service manager of the Wal-Mart at 3570 SW Archer Road.
Pringle said the stores statewide are participating in the change, including Gainesville’s two other locations at Northwest 23rd Street and Northeast Waldo Road.
It marks a switch in the way savings are garnered, she said, but does not take those savings away.
Still, customers have been complaining, Pringle said. They do not like having their savings sent to them after paying full price.
Darian O’Neal, a UF interior design junior, said he thinks the price-matching policy was a way for the store to keep customers from leaving and shopping at other places.
O’Neal said he now prefers Winn-Dixie and Sam’s Club.
“I honestly think they should have kept it,” O’Neal, 21, said.
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 10/15/2014]
