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Consumer Confidential: Less gas bought, lower prices at Wal-Mart, tablet sales surging

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Here’s your one-two-three-look-at-Mr.-Lee Monday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Looks like rising gas prices are finally prompting a response from drivers: They’re driving less. According to MasterCard SpendingPulse, which tracks spending at 140,000 service stations nationwide, U.S. drivers bought 2.7 billion gallons of gas in the first full week of April, a 3.6% decline from the same period in 2010 when gas was 80 cents cheaper. In addition, about 70% of the major gas station chains in the nation say sales have fallen, according to a March survey by the Oil Price Information Service. Apparently the drop in gas sales is due also to more people splurging on fuel-efficient vehicles. For example, sales of the Hyundai Sonata and Elantra rose 55% in March while sales of GM’s Chevy brand Suburban SUV dropped nearly 24%. Sign o’ the times.

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--Another sign o’ the times: Wal-Mart is hammering home its low-low-low prices theme to cash-strapped shoppers. The world’s biggest retailer has launched a new ad campaign bearing the slogan ‘Low Prices. Every Day. On Everything’ and features five 30-second commercials that range from an Easter egg hunt to a customer asking for a price match. The new commercials come as Wal-Mart’s U.S. business is smarting as it faces increasing price competition from dollar chains and the likes of Amazon.com. The former main slogan ‘Save Money. Live Better,’ in use for several years, now appears in smaller type in ads, underscoring Wal-Mart’s shift in strategy to drive home that it has everything shoppers need at rock-bottom prices. The company also said it is directing store employees to comb through competitors’ advertisements so price matches at the register are easier.

--It’s Apple’s world, and other tablet makers just live in it. That’s the word from market researcher Gartner, which says it expects 70 million tablets to be sold this year and 108 million in 2012, compared with just 17.6 million in 2010. Apple’s share of the market will gradually decline to 47% in 2015 from 69% this year, while Google’s share will rise to 39% from 20% now. Google’s Android has stormed the smartphone market, where it will become the No. 1 platform this year, and it has emerged as the only viable solution for tablet makers who do not own their own operating system. Research In Motion’s QNX platform, used in its soon-to-be-launched PlayBook tablet, will take the No. 3 position in the market this year with a 5.6% share, Gartner predicts.

-- David Lazarus

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