Walmart’s $35 Thanksgiving Deal Adds 18% More Items

By James Calloway

Walmart said its $35 holiday meal bundle feeds 10 people and contains 26 items, 18% more than its holiday bundle last year. The retailer announced the Thanksgiving offer Wednesday. The package includes a frozen 10- to 16-pound Butterball turkey priced at 97 cents per pound.

What does Walmart’s Thanksgiving basket contain?

Walmart said: “lowest priced one-click basket in the program’s history.” The statement gives shoppers a set $35 price and a one-click purchase option.

The company pairs the Butterball turkey with private-label items providing classic Thanksgiving sides and pumpkin pie ingredients. Walmart increased the number of products without changing its stated serving size, which remains 10 people.

New additions this year include:

• Jiffy corn muffin mix
• Whipped topping for pumpkin pie
• Ingredients for sweet potato casserole

Walmart said the basket costs 12% less than those same items did last year. Dive’s analysis found temporary price rollbacks on 96% of the products. Four of the five national-brand items have those temporary reductions.

The year-over-year calculation uses the same items as last year’s bundle, so the 12% price reduction does not depend on the three new additions. Nearly the entire basket carries a temporary markdown, although the national-brand coverage stops at four of five products.

In plain terms, Walmart has added products while lowering the price of the comparable basket by 12%.

How does the price compare with other grocers?

Dive characterized Walmart’s $35 package as competitively priced against offers from many grocery chains. That affordability push comes as other discounters and supermarket chains promote low-priced holiday deals.

Several grocers have announced Thanksgiving bundles under $40. Supermarket chains including Wegmans and Schnuck Markets have offered bundles that compete on price with discounters’ offers.

The $35 price sits below the $40 threshold cited for those rival promotions. Walmart also gives shoppers four concrete comparison points: a $35 total, 26 items, a 10-person serving size and a 12% year-over-year price reduction. Wegmans and Schnuck Markets add named alternatives for Thanksgiving shoppers.

The price pitch centers on a $35, 10-person basket while competing chains promote Thanksgiving deals below $40.

When and how can shoppers buy the meal?

Customers can find the Thanksgiving meal in stores and online through Dec. 24. Online shoppers can purchase it as a one-click shoppable basket. Walmart is also offering free Express Delivery on the meal basket through Nov. 30.

For shoppers deciding between pickup and delivery, the promotion provides two dates. Free Express Delivery ends Nov. 30, while in-store and online access continues through Dec. 24. Customers can find recipes for popular meals and side dishes in Walmart’s Recipe Hub.

The practical buying deadline is Nov. 30 for free Express Delivery, followed by Dec. 24 for in-store or online availability.

For holiday shoppers, the next dated checkpoint is Nov. 30, when free Express Delivery ends; the $35 basket remains available in stores and online through Dec. 24.