- Walmart planned to host an in-store Baby Savings Day on Saturday, February 23, offering discounts on baby apparel, accessories, and equipment. These deals would also be available online throughout the rest of the month.
- Some angry shoppers said that when they turned up to Walmart stores, sales assistants didn’t know that the sales were happening.
- Others said that discounts were “disappointing.”
Walmart’s Baby Savings Days event is being described as the “Fyre Festival” of sales.
The retailer planned to host a day-long sale on baby clothing, accessories, and equipment in select stores on Saturday, February 23. It also promised free goody bags. These deals are also being advertised online throughout the rest of the month.
In the run-up to the in-store event, there was some speculation as to whether this could become Walmart’s mini version of Amazon Prime Day.
But unfortunately, some shoppers said it didn't quite live up to the hype. Shoppers said discounts were "disappointing" and that in some cases, sales assistants didn't know the event was happening.
"False advertising by Walmart on Baby Savings Day," one angry customer wrote on Twitter. "No Markdowns, Dept. Manager did not know about sale and store manager was not willing to give 30% off as advertised by store intercom."
In a statement emailed to Business Insider, a spokesperson for Walmart said:
We are encouraged to see the excitement and positive demand surrounding the event. In addition to product demonstrations, we were excited to offer even lower prices on nearly 100 items in select stores, with hundreds more online. While nearly 3,000 stores participated, the demand surpassed even our expectations, and in some cases customer expectations were not met, and for that, we apologize. It's always our goal to provide customers a positive experience.
While some shoppers had a positive experience:
Others took social media to vent their frustration:
@walmart #babysavingsday was a complete waste of time!!! Disappointing
— Sharnae Walters (@atlvifynest) February 24, 2019
Well it’s great that all of @Walmart customers know about #BabySavingsDay too bad the employees have no idea what is going on @FOX2News pic.twitter.com/byeiuT7zao
— Aaron (@Acdrenik) February 23, 2019
@Walmart I’m a mom of 5month triplets &feel exploited by ur baby savings day promising “huge savings”.I got there and was offered a couple coupons if I downloaded the Walmart grocery app!Exploiting new moms just to get app downloads, sad & disappointed @KSEE24 @kron4news @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/hPfdFw7mg5
— melyonan (@melyonan) February 23, 2019
@Walmart Me and another pregnant mom at Cranberry Store for your “Baby Savings Day” sale only to be told there is no such sale. And true, nothing is reduced. Can we false false marketing? And you just lost 2 customers (actually more, there are a lot of unhappy women here!)
— Rebecca Titchner (@RTitchner) February 23, 2019
Anyone else? #Walmart #BabySavingsDay pic.twitter.com/Mvt2s5Qc0Q
— Erin Vaughn (@vaughn_time) February 23, 2019
@Walmart wtf kind of baby savings day was that!? Nothing was on sale! 🤦🏽♀️
— Jessica Aparicio (@Jesss_MaRee) February 23, 2019
@Walmart, baby savings day was the biggest scam to get customers in the door I have ever seen. There may have been 3 items on rollback discount in the entire department. I had to ask a store employee to please escort me to where the "red rollback tags" were. She found ONE!!
— Michael (@AtypicalRegular) February 25, 2019