A study breaks down who has the best prices between Amazon, Target, and Walmart in 5 different categories — here’s where to shop for what

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Amazon Target Walmart 4x1Alyssa Powell/Business Insider

  • A recent report from LendEdu compared prices on products across five categories at Target, Amazon, and Walmart to find which one actually offers the lowest prices. 
  • The report found that Walmart offers the lowest prices on average, followed by Amazon, then Target, though different retailers reigned supreme in different categories.
  • Below, we break down the report to show you which retailer has the best prices on which categories, including tech, kitchen and appliances, food and beverage, and more. 

Amazon has been dominating the e-commerce space for a while now. With its free, two-day Prime shipping, it’s been lauded as the place to shop when you’re looking for convenience and great deals. 

But Walmart and Target are proving they’re not to be forgotten. Each retailer offers free two-day shipping on orders of $35 or more, and you don’t even need a membership to get these perks. What’s more is that they both have competitive pricing, so it can be hard to know which of the big three mega-retailers truly has the best prices.

The only way you could really know which brand is the cheapest is if you combed through each site and compared the prices of a random sampling of products to ultimately come to a conclusion. That seems like it may be more effort than it’s worth. 

That’s why LendEdu, a company that educates consumers on financial products like loans and credit cards, did that work for you by comparing 50 nearly identical items from Amazon, Walmart, and Target to see how pricing differed at the three retailers.

Products were split into the following categories:

  1. Home goods
  2. Food and beverage
  3. Kitchen and appliances
  4. Technology and entertainment
  5. Miscellaneous items

LendEdu deduced that, overall, Walmart offered the cheapest products, with Amazon and Target shortly behind, respectively. But, the winners also varied category by category.

You can find the whole report here. Below, we’ll break down the comparisons by category, crowning a winner that offers the best prices on average in each, to give you a better understanding of what these price differences really look like. You may be surprised at some of the findings. 

Note: Percentages used in the report are based off prices at the time of publication. Prices in this article may differ from report to reflect any updates or changes in price.  

Home goods

Target

Winner: Walmart

On average, Walmart had the best prices on home goods like soaps, toothpastes, detergents, and more. Compared to Amazon, Target was 1.30% more expensive in total, while Walmart was 0.67% cheaper. Amazon still offered the best price on certain products, like Lysol wipes. 

Products:

  • Gain Flings Liquid Laundry Detergent Pacs, 96-count:
  • Dove Men+Care Clean Comfort Deodorant Twin Pack:
  • Lysol Disinfecting Wipes, 105-count:

Food and beverage

Amazon

Winner: Target

Target, Amazon, and Walmart all have their own flourishing grocery operations, but in this category comparison, Target came out on top. On average, Target was 7.30% less expensive than Amazon. Walmart was next — on average, food and beverage products at Walmart were 4.61% cheaper than at Amazon. Food and beverage items were classified as anything for human or animal consumption. 

Products:

  • Heinz Tomato Ketchup, 64-ounce:
  • Poland Spring 16.9-ounce Water Bottles, 24-pack:
  • Lay’s Classic Potato Chips, 12-pack:

Kitchen and appliances

Amazon

Winner: Amazon

Most prices in this category were the same, but when they weren’t, Amazon offered the best value on average. Anything normally found in a kitchen setting (think: microwaves, coffee makers, etc.) fit into this category. LendEdu found that, on average, items at Target were 1.16% more expensive than those at Amazon, while Walmart’s products were 10.62% more expensive than Amazon’s, on average.

Products:

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Source: Business Insider – rrosmarin@businessinsider.com (Remi Rosmarin)

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