When Walmart announced rollbacks on more than 250 items, my ears naturally perked up.
The chain shared the featured price drops in a press release on Monday, highlighting a few of the specific products that will have lower prices for summer.
On Truth Social, President Donald Trump credited the price reductions to his administration's "request to celebrate our great Country's 250th birthday". Walmart didn't mention the White House or the celebration as motives in its press release and has declined to comment on whether the sales resulted from a meeting with the administration.
No matter how these savings came about, I was just happy to see them. Walmart's known for having low prices, and I was curious how its newly reduced ones would compare with other major grocers'.
So, I wrote down the specific items mentioned in the price-drop announcement and headed to Walmart and two of its biggest competitors: Kroger and Amazon.
Here's how the prices measured up as I shopped the same list at each retailer.
Ground beef prices were basically the same across the board.
Walmart's press release specifically mentions a rollback on the 1-pound roll of 73% ground beef, so that's what I selected.
As promised, Walmart's beef, originally $6.94, came to $5.94 for a 1-pound roll. Kroger's was very close behind at $5.99.
I couldn't find any 1-pound packages of 73% lean ground beef on Amazon, only a bulky 3-pound roll. It worked out to $6.15 per pound.
Walmart's price was the lowest, but I wasn't particularly impressed by any of them.
Walmart had the sweetest corn prices.
I can't comment on the actual sweetness in terms of taste, but Walmart's sweet corn was a bargain. It cost just $0.25 per ear, compared to $0.40 per ear at Kroger and a whopping $1.25 per ear on Amazon.
I added four ears to my cart at each retailer.
Neither Amazon nor Kroger could compete with Walmart on cherries.
The Walmart press release specifically mentioned 2.2-pound bags of fresh red cherries would be reduced from $11.18 to $5.63. My local store only carried 1-pound bags, but they also came to $2.50 per pound like the ones mentioned.
Kroger's red cherries were on sale, discounted from $4.49 to $2.99 per pound. Amazon tied with Kroger at $2.99 per pound.
It's worth noting that Kroger deals like these are only valid with a Kroger Plus Card — which I have, since it's a free loyalty card. Without it, they'd have cost me the full $4.49.
I was also surprised to find such a great sale in the store since I hadn't seen it mentioned in Kroger's weekly flyer. I wondered if it may have been a more last-minute discount to compete with Walmart after the Monday announcement. Kroger did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
To my delight, all three retailers had generic 48-ounce tubs of ice cream for under $3.
Walmart highlighted 48-ounce tubs of its store-brand Great Value ice cream being reduced from $2.97 to $2.50. That's exactly what I found in the store.
Amazon had the same-sized tubs of Amazon Grocery ice cream available for $2.97, the price Walmart's was before the cut.
Kroger had the cheapest 48-ounce tubs on sale for $1.99 — marked down from $2.99. With prices this good, I would have happily bought ice cream from all three retailers.
An 8-ounce bag of Lay's classic potato chips felt like a steal at Kroger, but the deal's already gone.
An 8-ounce bag of Lay's classic potato chips cost $2.50 at Walmart, marked down from $2.97. The same bag of chips was also $2.50 on Amazon.
At Kroger, these chips had several prices in front of it. The 8-ounce bag was originally priced at $3.99, listed at $3.29 with card, and then labeled $1.99 with card and a clipped digital coupon as part of a weekly deal.
Kroger's price was the best, but I only just caught this deal, which expired July 7. (Kroger's digital deals refresh every Wednesday, and I visited Kroger on a Tuesday.)
At the time of writing, the deal is already gone.
Frito-Lay Family Fun boxes were comparable at Kroger and Walmart, but I didn't find the same deal on Amazon.
Walmart reduced the price of the Frito-Lay Family Fun 18-bag variety pack including a mix of Cheetos, Fritos, Funyuns, Lay's, and Ruffles from $9.97 to $8.97.
Kroger originally listed the variety packs at $10.99, but price-drop stickers now had them marked $9.99.
On Amazon, this pack was available for $9.99 through Amazon Fresh, which I didn't use because I'm already a Prime member and wasn't ordering enough to hit the minimum spend and avoid a delivery fee.
My other option was to order this pack through a low-rated third-party seller for a whopping $21.
Walmart and Amazon had great prices on disposable plates.
Walmart's release highlighted a 200-pack of Great Value disposable plates being marked down from $9.97 to $8.97, or $0.04 per plate.
On Amazon, the same quantity of Amazon Basics plates was $10.60, or $0.05 per plate.
My local Kroger didn't have any 200-packs, and the closest I found was 150 plates for $9.99. They worked out to $0.07 per plate.
If I ever need such a large quantity of disposable plates, I'm totally turning to Walmart or Amazon.
I got lucky with Coca-Cola and Pepsi deals at Kroger.
Walmart marked down select 24-packs of sodas, including Coca-Cola and Diet Pepsi. With the rollback prices, they worked out to $0.42 per can.
My local Kroger didn't have any 24-packs of these drinks, so 12-packs were the next best option.
Kroger's a 12-pack of Coca-Cola or Pepsi cans typically costs $11.99, or $1 per can. However, when I visited, the store was running a "buy two, get three free" deal, which meant I could get 60 cans for the price of 24. It brought the price per can down to $0.40.
Amazon didn't have any 24-packs readily available to me, either. I could buy 12-packs, though, so I grabbed two of each. On Amazon, my Coca-Cola came to $0.70 per can, whereas Diet Pepsi was $0.66 per can.
Shopping at Kroger felt like a gamble — and Amazon's prices seemed to be all over the place.
Unlike Walmart, where rollbacks tend to last several weeks and are available to any shopper, many of Kroger's sale prices only last for seven days and require a (free) rewards membership to claim them.
If I hadn't gotten lucky with the deals running that week, or if I didn't have a Kroger card, I could have easily shelled out about $30 or more for the same cart.
Like Kroger, Amazon's prices change often, for better or for worse. I could see exactly how much by using the "price history" feature. For example, the 12-pack of Coca-Cola alone ranged in price from $6.29 to $8.89 over the past 30 days.
Price-wise, Amazon was out of the running for me early on as my cart passed $70.
On the bright side, the higher price came with the most convenience: I wouldn't have to drive anywhere or pay for delivery, given that I'm already a Prime member. (The membership costs about $139 a year and comes with other perks.)
My Walmart haul came out the least expensive overall, but Kroger was very close behind.
My Walmart cart, complete with all nine categories of items, came to $52.32.
In an attempt to match the Walmart quantities as closely as possible, my Kroger cart — using my card and the deals available at the time —came to $58.52. I had 150 plates instead of 200, though, and an extra dozen cans of soda (given I wanted 48 cans but got three 12-packs free with my purchase of two).
Sure, this isn't a perfect science, but the closeness of the totals made Walmart's price reductions feel a little less impressive — especially since Walmart had a slight advantage in dictating which items I compared.
For reliably low prices, I'd go back to Walmart — but I'm keeping a close eye on Kroger's rotating deals.
None of the retailers had the cheapest item in every category, but if it weren't for my seemingly lucky week and Kroger card, Walmart would have.
Walmart got me the lowest-priced basket this time — though the savings weren't as big as I'd expected, given that I specifically shopped the chain's price-dropped items. Kroger really held its own in this battle.
Even so, I'd definitely keep an eye out for Walmart's future rollbacks and Kroger's weekly coupons and deals.
This particular price drop aside, I've often found competitive grocery prices at Walmart, and I appreciate how the chain's rollbacks typically last at least a few weeks.
Since most of Kroger's deals change weekly, I sometimes miss discounted prices before I even realize they're available. Amazon's prices seem to fluctuate fairly often.
In the end, the best value comes down to what groceries you need and the current deals available at each place when you buy them.
And, hey, I certainly wouldn't complain if other retailers want to follow Walmart's lead and drop more prices this summer.
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Savannah Born is an experienced writer with bylines in Business Insider, Forbes, Us Weekly, and other publications. With interests spanning from lifestyle and wellness to personal finance and consumer culture, Born is always on the lookout for trends, fresh ideas and insights that make life better.
