Deals Keep Coming as Industry Promotes Green Monday Specials
The Green Monday opportunity brought a smattering of CE manufacturers and retailers to the discount table Monday. Panasonic offered price cuts up to 67 percent at its online store, and of the 15 plasma TV models listed at the Panasonic site, only seven models were still in stock in the last month that the company is manufacturing plasma TVs. All seven remaining models at the Panasonic e-commerce site were cart-priced, indicating the sale price is below the company’s own minimum advertised price. Panasonic’s tag for the top-line TC-P65ZT60 65-inch TV was $3,388, down from a suggested retail price of $4,099, while Amazon went down to $3,226 for the same model, vs. what it listed as a standard price of $3,999. Abt Electronics took the sale price down further to $3,198, and Best Buy cart-priced it at $3,199, plus $69 shipping. Paul’s TV & Appliances, meanwhile, showed the TC-P65ZT60 for $3,799, some $400 above Panasonic’s own sale price.
Kindles were Amazon’s Deal of the Day, as it continues its marketing blitz for the Kindle Fire HDX tablet. The 20 percent one-day price cut on four models in the Kindle lineup brought the 16 GB Kindle Fire HDX to $184, slightly higher than its Cyber Monday deal price of $179. Amazon has been blanketing the airwaves for the Kindle Fire HDX, pushing the Mayday customer support feature of its latest-generation tablet in an effort to separate the 7-inch Android-compatible device from the pack. Also discounted in the one-day sale were the Kindle 6-inch reader ($56), the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD ($136) and the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD ($229). The 8.9-inch Fire HDX remained at its $379 everyday price.
Walmart used the week after Cyber Monday as a reason to mark down the LG 50LN5200 50-inch LED-lit LCD TV to a cart price of $548 (from $699). Also in Walmart’s Green Monday bargain bin were a Canon PowerShot SX160 IS 16MP 16x optical zoom digital camera for $79, down from $169; an Ematic 8-in-1 universal accessory kit with portable Bluetooth speaker at more than half off to $20; and a Garmin nuvi 50 handheld GPS unit, cut 30 percent to $69, according to the website.
Target took 10 percent off the price of the Momentum Sennheiser headphones to $206 and sweetened the deal on numerous SKUs from Apple, GoPro and others with Target gift cards. Target trimmed the 16 GB iPad Air by $20 to $479 and threw in a $30 gift card to boot. The retailer knocked $95 off the 32 GB iPod Touch in a temporary price cut, bringing it to $199.