Dive Brief:

• Wal-mart, working with Ria Money Transfer and American Express, announced on Tuesday enhancements to its Walmart2Walmart money transfer service, lowering fees on transfers and unveiling plans to launch a mobile service next month called Bluebird2Walmart Money Transfer Service, which will let users of Bluebird alternative checking and debit products send money for cash pick-up at Wal-mart store locations, according to a press release.

• The big-box retailer said it already offers some of the lowest money transfer fees available, but beginning yesterday it cut costs to a point where customers will be able to save 20% to 90% on cash transfers versus what they will pay for using competing services.

• When the Bluebird2Walmart service launches, Walmart2Walmart account holders will be able to visit Bluebird.com or use the Bluebird smartphone app to send money. Parties receiving money don't need a Bluebird account, but can pick up their funds at any Wal-Mart store within minutes of the online transfer.

Dive Insight:

Walmart2Walmart money transfers became available through the retailer's mobile app earlier this year, and it seemed like a fairly natural addition to a retailer that already offers many financial services through Walmart MoneyCenters and in-store customer service desks. Some of its other services include check cashing, bill pay, money orders, tax preparation services and pre-paid card programs, as well as Walmart.com Pay with Cash. Aside from these services, the retailer also offers its own Wal-Mart Pay digital wallet.

Financial services are part of the retailer's recipe to avoid the fate of brick-and-mortar retailers that didn't do enough to expand their traditional offerings and have begun to slide down the slipper slope of shuttering stores. Wal-Mart's bet on these services makes sense — they give customers more ways to spend at a retailer and can be fundamental customer loyalty tools that reinforce a retailer's brand value among its customers.

As Wal-Mart has discovered with Walmart Pay, the value of of some financial capabilities increases with the willingness to integrate with other platforms. Wal-Mart recently announced a deal to integrate Chase Pay with Wal-Mart Pay, and its arrangement with Bluebird shows a similar willingness that ultimately will expand the value and viability of Walmart2Walmart as a money transfer brand.

Some media reports are likening the company's decision to cut fees to Wal-mart's rollback pricing strategies that initiated price wars with competitors. Is Wal-mart's intent to extent its price war to financial services? As a mammoth company, it probably can afford to do so in order to take market share from other providers. It's a strategy that Wal-mart knows well, even if it's using it in a different market arena this time around.