The Walmart USP Has a Flaw and Cannot Work Forever
Wal-Mart has a famous USP: ”Always the low price”
There you go … another low price USP.
It’s usually not a wise idea to create a usp based on offering the lowest price – unless you absolutely will always be able to deliver on that promise – because eventually someone else always comes along with a lower price still. It only works as long as you are competing against higher priced opponents. Furthermore, you can never hold onto a customer who is a switchable buyer triggered by price alone.
Only one competitor can be the cheapest and the others have to use different USPs. The “lowest price” unique selling proposition is therefore the most vulnerable type of positioning because financially stronger competitors can use a price war to knock you out of the market. Home Depot does this by entering a new area, lowering prices so low that local merchants are forced to quit, and then raising prices once again after they are gone.
