{"id":11279,"date":"2007-10-04T21:04:41","date_gmt":"2007-10-05T04:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2007\/10\/04\/there-is-hope-for-america.html"},"modified":"2007-10-04T21:04:41","modified_gmt":"2007-10-05T04:04:41","slug":"there_is_hope_for_america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/10\/04\/there_is_hope_for_america.html","title":{"rendered":"There is hope for America …"},"content":{"rendered":"

… because the Wal-Mart juggernaut seems to be stalling<\/a>.  Despite this Andromeda Strain<\/em>-like expansion<\/a>, the chain may be at a high water mark.<\/p>\n

\n

Using a combination of low prices and relentless expansion, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. emerged from rural Arkansas in the 1970s to reshape the world’s largest economy. Its co-founder, Sam Walton, taught Americans to demand ever-lower prices and instructed businesses on running a lean company. His company helped boost America’s overall productivity, lowered the inflation rate, and strengthened the buying power for millions of people. Over time, it also accelerated the drive to manufacture products in Asia, drove countless small shops out of business, and sped the decline of Main Street. Those changes are permanent.<\/p>\n

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 to $4. But success is no longer guaranteed.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 Dublin, Ohio-based brand consulting firm WD Partners Inc.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The American consumer may be sane after all.  Heaven knows I will go to five Targets in the area before reluctantly set foot in a Wal-Mart.  (And, yes, if I can order it online I will do that first.)<\/p>\n

It’s still the biggest kid on the block, but that’s beginning to make it look more like a dinosaur in the retail world..<\/p>\n

\n

Wal-Mart remains an enormous force in retailing, of course. Its world-wide sales are almost three times those of France’s Carrefour SA, the world’s second-largest, publicly traded retailer. Wal-Mart’s U.S. revenue is 4\u00bd times that of discount-store rival Target Corp., and four times that of second-largest U.S. food retailer Kroger Co. Its clothing and shoe sales last year alone exceeded the total revenues of Macy’s Inc., parent of Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department stores.<\/p>\n

[…] But the value loop is beginning to unravel. For 10 years through 2005, Wal-Mart’s sales gains at stores open at least a year averaged 5.2%. So far this year, its comparable-store sales, a measure of market share, is up just 1.3%. The pricing gap between Wal-Mart and rivals has narrowed, and more customers are now choosing convenience over wading through a supercenter.<\/p>\n

That compares with comparable-store gains of 4.6% at Target, which markets itself as a trend-setting discounter, and 6% at membership-club rival Costco Wholesale<\/a> Corp., which peddles $500 Bordeaux wines and $4,000 Cartier watches. While Wal-Mart has been portrayed as a ruthless employer, Costco has been praised for providing some of the best employee benefits in retail.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Couldn’t happen to a nicer soulless behemoth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… because the Wal-Mart juggernaut seems to be stalling.  Despite this Andromeda Strain-like expansion, the chain may be at a high water mark. Using a combination of low prices and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27512,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/22\/the-revenue-must-flow.html","url_meta":{"origin":11279,"position":0},"title":"The Revenue Must Flow!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 22-Apr-12 7:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Fairly damning evidence regarding Wal-Mart using bribery to leverage their way into the lucrative market in Mexico. Classy! Also, illegal! #ddtb Embedded Link Wal-Mart executives in U.S. brushed aside evidence of rampant bribery in Wal-Mart de Mexico expansion - The Denver Post MEXICO CITY\u00a0\u2014In September 2005, a senior Wal-Mart lawyer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6609,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/08\/12\/this_too_shall.html","url_meta":{"origin":11279,"position":1},"title":"This, too, shall pass","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 12-Aug-04 2:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Toys 'R' Us, which was itself responsible for \"big box driving little mom-n-pop store out of business\" stuff in the 80s and 90s, now says it might have to quit...","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7943,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/07\/15\/shop_smart_shop.html","url_meta":{"origin":11279,"position":2},"title":"Shop Smart! Shop S-Mart!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 15-Jul-05 9:05am","format":false,"excerpt":"Interesting article comparing the wage and benefit policies of Wal-Mart vs. Costco, showing that you can run a large, big-box retail market and still not treat your employees like coolies....","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9386,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/07\/18\/wal_mart_tries.html","url_meta":{"origin":11279,"position":3},"title":"Wal-Mart tries to be hip, but barely manages hep","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 18-Jul-06 6:56am","format":false,"excerpt":"Wal-Mart, seeing more teen shopping dollars going to Target, is trying to woo the cool kids back by building its own MySpace-type of site. Except, of course, it's patently filled...","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3877,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/03\/19\/only_101.html","url_meta":{"origin":11279,"position":4},"title":"Only 101?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 19-Mar-03 1:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a long but entertaining article on The 101 Dumbest Moments in Business of 2002. A few highlights: Panic in the heartland, part 1: The crisis begins. Outside a Wal-Mart...","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13494,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/29\/hope_you_like_the_widescr.html","url_meta":{"origin":11279,"position":5},"title":"“Hope you like the widescreen TV for Christmas, Ma …”","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 29-Nov-08 2:59pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\"... it was purchased in blood.\" A Wal-Mart worker died early Friday after an \"out-of-control\" mob of frenzied shoppers smashed through the Long Island store's front doors and trampled him,...","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}