Competition among America’s retail giants has reached a turning point, with one company making a brand exclusive at its stores.
Walmart, Amazon, and Target are battling for the top spot in electronics, each trying to offer shoppers more choices and better deals. With more people shopping online and in-store, a shift could change where families turn for their next big-screen TV.
Vizio
Vizio has made enormous strides as a TV maker. By 2024, Vizio TVs accounted for roughly one in ten smart TVs sold in the country, according to The Street and Chain Store Age. Customers often rated Vizio top for value and reliability.
Shoppers visiting Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy could all find several models in stock, giving them many price and feature options. For competitors like Amazon and Target, having Vizio on the shelf helped bring in customers seeking great prices on big brands.
Acquiring Vizio
Late last year, Walmart acquired Vizio for a whopping $2.3 billion. Walmart saw Vizio as a key to boosting sales and its footprint in the fast-growing market for smart TVs that also serve advertising.
Acquisition announcements from Walmart and financial press releases emphasized big plans ahead, but did not disclose exactly how soon customers would notice changes.
Rivals Left Wondering
After the Vizio acquisition, other retailers took notice. Analysts reported that Amazon and Target could lose a valuable draw for home electronics shoppers if Vizio’s future changed direction.
Chain Store Age explained that when a brand like Vizio leaves a store, it isn’t only TV sales at stake—other departments can also feel the pinch, as these TVs helped drive additional foot traffic and sales elsewhere.
Walmart’s Exclusive Move
The silence was finally ended, and Walmart announced that by the end of 2025, Vizio TVs will only be sold at Walmart stores and Sam’s Club, according to memos viewed by Bloomberg and reported by Tom’s Guide and Chain Store Age.
This means that major online and brick-and-mortar retailers like Amazon, Target, and Best Buy will no longer stock new Vizio TVs, with current inventory phased out over the coming months. Shortly, consumers will only have one place to buy popular TVs.
Shoppers Across the Country Impacted
The change isn’t regional and will be rolled out across the nation. According to the Chain Store Age, Vizio TVs will become exclusive to every Walmart and Sam’s Club store across all fifty states.
Shoppers who once picked up Vizio models from Amazon or Target will soon need to visit Walmart to find the newest releases.
Reactions and Concerns
Vizio TVs have started disappearing from other stores, and consumers have noticed, prompting many to share their opinions online.
According to USA Today, consumers have posted about shrinking options for comparing prices and features across retailers, raising questions about higher prices or less flexibility. Walmart says it plans to keep prices low, but uncertainty remains.
Impacts On Retailers
Walmart’s decisiaffectedcts giants like Amazon and Tar,get as well as other retailers. Best Buy and smaller chains will also lose access to a top-selling TV brand, creating pain points.
Market analysts note that removing Vizio from their electronics lineup means a direct loss of high-turnover products and the indirect effect of reduced foot traffic and ancillary sales in their electronics departments.
A New Retail Strategy
Walmart’s acquisition of Vizio fits a growing retail trend of building exclusive, in-house brands. Bloomberg notes that Walmart already has 90 private-label lines, with over 20 generating $1 billion or more in annual sales.
The Vizio move aims to take control of the full shopper experience, from product design to advertisements seen on screen. This drives traffic towards the store for all exclusive brands that cannot be found elsewhere.
What Comes Next for Shoppers?
The road ahead could see more brands signing exclusivity deals with single retailers or getting bought out entirely to drive out competition. Will this trend bring lower prices or leave shoppers with fewer brands?
How Walmart’s move with Vizio plays out may set the tone for the next wave of competition in America’s electronics aisles—one in which control over brands could result in less variety at other stores, hurting the consumer the most.