Walmart website glitch gives shoppers super bargains

A worker pushes shopping carts in front of a Wal-Mart store in La Habra, California on May 9, 2013. A technical glitch on the Walmart Stores Inc US website, on Wednesday, offered some items at a fraction of their actual retail price. -
A worker pushes shopping carts in front of a Wal-Mart store in La Habra, California on May 9, 2013. A technical glitch on the Walmart Stores Inc US website, on Wednesday, offered some items at a fraction of their actual retail price. -- FILE  PHOTO: AP 

(REUTERS) - Shoppers looking for a bargain got some big ones at Walmart.com on Wednesday morning.

A technical glitch on the Walmart Stores Inc US website offered some items at a fraction of their actual retail price. Treadmills, which normally cost hundreds of dollars, were priced at $33.16 (S$41.19). LCD computer monitors were offered for $9.

"We have millions of items on our site. This error affected a group of products," said Ravi Jariwala, a spokesman for Walmart.com. He said the problem was being fixed.

The company did not say how many orders were placed at the low prices or whether it would honor those orders.

Most of the affected products were electronics, said Jariwala, adding that the website was not available at times on Wednesday while repairs were made.

Walmart Stores Inc kicked off its online holiday-season deals on Nov. 1, a month earlier than usual. The earlier deals and bigger incentives come after data firm ShopperTrak forecast the slowest holiday sales growth since 2009.

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