(WXYZ) — For over a decade, Target's Price Match Guarantee gave shoppers confidence they were getting the best deal, but that policy has now come to an end.
Watch the video report from Meghan Daniels below
"I think this is kind of the start of that ending, as corporations are gonna start to say, 'Well, we can't keep absorbing those costs,'" said local economist Paul Traub.
Target is rolling back the program as the Big Box store reported softer sales and shifting consumer habits earlier this year.
Customers I spoke to aren't thrilled over the announcement.
"I did not know that. That's sad," said Gloria Murray.
A few people said it's going to change the way they shop.
"Probably around Christmas time it probably will," one woman told me.
"Will it change how you shop, potentially? Absolutely," said Gary Coppen. "You know, things are hard enough as it is. I mean, you need to make sure that you can get value."
While others say it doesn't change much for them.
I guess it depends on what items you buy, but I've never used it," Gloria said.
Traub tells me that with rising prices of consumer goods across the board, companies — no matter the size — are struggling to keep up.
"It's a sign that corporate companies are saying we're responsible to our shareholders and we can't continue to allow our profit margins to deteriorate because of higher prices for the goods that we're selling," Traub said.
He continued to say that price matching doesn't benefit these companies, and as prices for goods continue to rise, they can only eat the cost for so long.
"It's kind of a more of a marketing thing where they can say, 'well, we can match anybody's price.' That is where the issue is gonna start to arise- is people are gonna start to step away from that," Traub said.
While Target is pulling the plug on their price match program, other stores like Lowe's, Home Deport, J.C. Penney and Cabela's show no sign of wavering on their policy.
But Traub says he feels this is just the beginning.
"It's just the tip of the iceberg of what's gonna happen with other corporations as they start to adjust pricing for higher price for the higher costs," Traub said.
Target said this change is about customer behavior, citing the reason for most Price Match Requests were for Target's own pricing from other locations, not outside retailers.
"Everybody's gonna check Walmart, everybody's gonna check every other retailer, and if they're not gonna roll it back and match it, it's gonna be a problem because I wouldn't go there," Gary said.
