Wal-Mart to Online Customers: Say Cheese
If you want to fool around with online pictures, but don't want to plunk down a couple of hundred bucks for a digital camera, Wal-Mart has a deal for you -- a new disposable camera that includes Wal-Mart's Pictures Online service as part of the price.
And the price would appear to be within the range of almost all those in Wal-Mart's customer demographic - $6.84, including the online service, which the company said is a $2.74 value.
The cameras are being offered at real world Wal-Mart
The company said that the disposable 35 mm cameras are "tagged" so when a
camera is dropped off at Wal-Mart, the pictures are automatically uploaded to
the Walmart.com Photo Center. Customers will be able to take pictures with
special camera, return it to their local Wal-Mart for developing and have
their pictures posted -- securely -- at the Walmart.com Photo Center for
sharing and printing.
Competitors such as Ofoto.com,
recently acquired by Kodak, offer a similar service, but customers have
to mail the film. The company then puts the pictures online and sends the
negatives back. Yahoo has a similar service in conjunction with Shutterfly,
which also handles a digital photo service for the Best Buy stores and has a
deal with Dell Computer.
Wal-Mart no doubt is betting on bricks and clicks, hoping that the frequency
of its in-store customer visits will go up, enhancing cross-sell and impulse
buy opportunities.
stores
nationwide, as well as at Walmart.com.