• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, April 11, 2011

A month after re-assuring investors that it would return to its basic "Everyday low prices" positioning, Walmart is making good on its promise. The new marketing campaign, which includes humorous national TV spots, tailored local marketing and an aggressive "Match it" policy, is designed to win back the shoppers it's lost in recent months.

It's also putting some 8,500 items back on stores shelves, an 11% increase, in an acknowledgment that its "Project Impact," an effort to declutter stores and increase efficiency by reducing SKUs, was a snafu almost on the order of "New Coke." It will even offer a "Mea Culpa" to shoppers by flagging the restored items with "It's back!" signage.

Back in February, its most recent quarterly results, Walmart posted a comparable store sales decline of 1.8% in its U.S. stores, which it chalked up to fewer people coming in to shop. (Per-basket expenditures actually gained a bit in the quarter.) At that time, the retailer also said it would shore up its "Every day low prices" positioning, broaden assortment, continue with its remodeling program and boost its multichannel efforts. The company revealed more details on that plan in a meeting with investors last month.