The holiday season is all “peace on earth, goodwill toward men” and whatnot. But that feel good junk doesn’t fly in the world of retail – especially not  between Amazon and Wal-Mart! Earlier this year, Wally dumped Amazon’s e-readers (Kindle, etc.) Why sell a device that gives you access to the competition’s online store?

Well, success is the best revenge, as they say. And a Bloomberg analysis tells the tale of the tape regarding toy prices this season – toys being the most popular item that accounts for the most spending.

In a comparison of 125 randomly selected toys conducted on Nov. 8, Amazon had lower prices than Wal-Mart on 44 percent of the items, while Wal-Mart had the advantage on 13 percent. The remaining had the same price tag. Wal-Mart beat Target, Kmart and Toys “R” Us on more than 80 percent of the toys.  Bloomberg.com

Wal-Mart and Amazon basically swapped the #1 and #2 slots from last year.

The study says that, in general, retailers will have better inventory than last year. Right now, Amazon is fully stocked on those 125 items, while Wally was out of about 3%. But don’t get complacent! Last year, on December 21, Amazon was out of stock on 1% of the items, while Wal-Mart and the rest were down by 40%.

So, how about you? Have you bought your toys and electronics (the other big draw) online in past years? Will you start this year? Let us know!