The end of the Wal-Mart era (???)

[underpants]

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/TheEndOfTheWalMartEra.aspx

Today, though, Wal-Mart's influence over the retail universe is slipping. In fact, the industry's titan is scrambling to keep up with swifter rivals that are redefining the business all around it. It can still disrupt prices, as it did last year by cutting some generic prescriptions in the United States to $4. But success is no longer guaranteed.
Convenience, selection and quality
Rival retailers lured Americans away from Wal-Mart's low-price promise by offering greater convenience, more selection, higher quality or better service. Amid the country's growing affluence, Wal-Mart has struggled to overhaul its down-market, politically incorrect image while other discounters pitched themselves as more upscale and more palatable alternatives.

The Internet has changed shoppers' preferences and eroded the commanding influence Wal-Mart had over its suppliers. As a result, American shoppers are increasingly looking for qualities that Wal-Mart has trouble providing.

"For the first time in a long time, quality has a chance to gain on price," says Lee Peterson, a vice president at WD Partners, an Ohio brand-consulting firm.

Consumers are demanding more freshness and choice, which means foods and new clothing designs must appear on shelves more frequently. They also are demanding more-personalized service. Making such changes is difficult for Wal-Mart's supercenters, which ascended to the top of retailing by superior efficiency, uniformity and scale.

Earlier this year, Wal-Mart took the extraordinary step of ratcheting down its U.S. expansion plans because its new stores were stealing too much revenue from existing ones. That wasn't a concern in the 1980s and 1990s, when Wal-Mart was regularly flattening competitors.

Wal-Mart's loss of influence can also be seen in logistics. In 1984, Wal-Mart's decision to embrace bar-code scanners in its distribution centers and stores helped quash the use of a less-efficient technology then used at Sears (SHLD, news, msgs) and other retailers.

In 2003, Wal-Mart brashly jumped onto the next big logistics technology, called radio-frequency identification, and mandated that big suppliers begin slapping RFID tags on products shipped to its warehouses. Wal-Mart installed tag readers at warehouses and stores, hoping to further automate warehouses and lower inventory costs.

Wal-Mart quietly dropped the mandate earlier this year and refocused its development after suppliers complained of the high costs and lack of a return on their investment in the new technology. Though the company says it is pushing ahead, Wal-Mart says it realigned efforts to focus on areas where the technology offered the most promise, such as assuring vendors' promotional displays are properly deployed in its stores.

[Cha]

1. HaHa..I stopped shopping

at walmart years ago and am ashamed I ever did..cause I was warned by some very prescient people what they were doing..way back in 1995.

And I do shop on the internet and locally for my organic produce when available.

[TomInTib]

2. Couldn't happen to a bunch of nicer guys.

I am proud to say that there is not one of those awful stores in our County (Marin) and that I have never stepped foot in one of those foul places.

[Ronnie Roach]

3. Unionize the place!

I find it ironic that good Republicans such as the Waltons are selling communist merchandise! What did Lenin say? When we hang the capitalists, they will sell us the rope: unquote. It's dyslexia time, when we kill the commies, they will sell us the weapons!
WHEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/videolinks/videolink_354.html

[underpants]

6. Great quote - Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Sean Stuart]

4. "... its new stores were stealing too much revenue from existing ones ..."

Troubling times for Wal-Mart, like the Roman Empire, are inevitable. It's profit strategy is clearly characterized by four main principles: Open a new Wal-Mart every minute somewhere in the world, constantly expand the services and goods they provide, pressure suppliers to reduce their prices for goods they sell to the retail giant, and squeeze blood out of its own employees. Wal-Mart is the Borg of modern capitalism as its mission, unstated, is to replace every retail and service store in the world with itself. In addition to buying cheap Chinese labor-made clothing, you can get your car fixed, get a haircut, fill up your tank, eat lunch, and any number of other things there. For a while their strategy was wildly successful. But it is absolutely impossible for a company to constantly increase its value forever.

I find it hilarious that it started affecting the sales of its own stores by constantly opening new ones.

[underpants]

5. Welcome to DU

every 8 miles-that (my stepfather tells me) was the goal a Walmart every 8 miles.

[One Sweet World]

7. Can you say Karma?

Did any of you see the graph that showed Costco's stock surging in the last few years while Wal-Mart's has tanked? I think it's directly a result of Costco taking care of its employees and being socially responsible while Wal-Mart acts like, well, Wal-Mart.