Wal-Mart Inc intends to kick off the holiday season sales early this year by speeding up the opening of Christmas shops in it stores and slashing the prices of many popular gift items in an attempt to lure in the increasingly budget conscious customer.

On Wednesday, Wal-Mart announced that it will be cutting the prices of at least ten popular toys by $10 each in order to draw in shoppers for the most hectic gift-buying season of the year. The holiday-season initiative from Wal-Mart came after a survey revealed that consumers will start Christmas shopping earlier this year in order to make their holiday dollars go as far as possible. Among other incentives undertaken by Wal-Mart would be an ornament value pack for $5 to be sold at Christmas shops scheduled to open at Wal-Mart stores within the next ten days. Wal-Mart is a popular retailer among low-income groups and the 3500-stores chain regularly comes up with discounts and bargains in order to appeal to the budget-conscious customer.

The end of the year is busiest for the retail industry as customers shop for Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year. however due to the economic slow down in US this year, retailers expect to have lukewarm sales over the holiday season as consumers struggle with high food and energy costs, rising unemployment and a housing slump.