The company now offers a basic Web site, domain name and e-mail address for as little as $5 a month, or $50 a year. Sam’s Club members go online to set up a Web site for the basic $5 fee, which includes domain registration and setup. Free phone online technical support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
I suppose this is not altogether surprising as Walmart has been on the fringe of these kinds of efforts. In the State of Maryland, the gas police were out just prior to the beginning of the Iraq war to enforce a law put on the books preventing “wholesale gasoline sellers” (read: Sam’s Club and Costco) from selling their gasoline at prices below market value – a tactic used to gain new memberships for the company. The same can be said of how the Home Depot’s and Lowe’s SuperHardware stores ran the little mom-and-pop stores out of the market. Now, Sam’s Club is looking to take a new industry by storm by offering dirt cheap web marketing – an industry that is already struggling in the post-dotbomb era.
Doesn’t look good.
Aaron
