Is The Mightiest Of Retailers, Walmart, On Its Way Down?
Posted: Monday, February 07, 2011
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
Walmart has been a controversial subject now for a number of years. First of all, let it be known that I am on their side. I’ve always thought this was the greatest thing to happen since the discovery of peanut butter. I’ve always been a stickler for things which I prefer. I have driven miles for a particular brand of food when I could not find it locally. Walmart offered the widest choice of any store that I have known. Plus, rock bottom prices. Where finances are closely budgeted, Walmart offered a wide variety of products at great prices.
After this, he worked Butler Brothers who owned the chain of Ben Franklin Stores. In 1950, he purchased a store from Luther E. Harrison in Bentonville, Arkansas, and opened Walton's 5 & 10. He had several ideas and rules, that he would sell the best products he could obtain at the lowest price he could, while still showing a profit enough to remain viable. His first Wal-mart was started in Rogersville, Arkansas. He reportedly borrowed $20,000 from his father-in-law and put $1,500 of his personal savings to establish his first Wal-Mart store in the now largest retail chain in the world.
Sam Walton's first store: Wikipedia photo with permission
Competition has always been heavy in the general merchandise retail business. There were sources such as K-mart, Sears and numerous local and regional discount stores. But by adhering to his first rules, the growth was phenomenal.
Today, 8,838 stores and club locations in 15 countries employ 2.1 million associates, serving more than 176 million customers a year. Our history is a perfect example of how to manage growth without losing sight of your values. Our most basic value has always been, and always will be, customer service. (The 21st Century: WalmartStores.org)
In his autobiography, Sam said, "… if you think about it from the point of view of the customer, you want everything: a wide assortment of quality merchandise; the lowest possible prices; guaranteed satisfaction; friendly, knowledgeable service; convenient hours; and a pleasant shopping experience. You love it when a store exceeds your expectations, and you hate it when a store inconveniences you, gives you a hard time, or pretends you're invisible." (Ibid)
With the advent of the Walmart Supercenters in 1988, and subsequently adding more and more, their retail success positioned them into the world’s largest retailer, a position they continue to hold.
But all has not been rosy for the huge firm. With the gigantic size of the organization came gigantic problems and headaches. There have been numerous lawsuits, some with merit and many frivolous. Read this:
Over the last decade or so Wal-Mart has become involved in thousands of lawsuits for a variety of reasons. The majority of the suits are class action lawsuits in which employees are suing for unpaid wages. They have also run into many discrimination cases in which employees are suing for being profiled out of money or out of jobs. For instance, there were two separate cases, one in 2004 and one in 2005 in which African Americans were suing two different Wal-Marts for denying them jobs based on race. These became so popular that the reverend Jesse Jackson spoke during both of the proceedings. There are also many lawsuits in which women are suing Wal-Mart for discriminating against them. In one article written in 2004 USA today mentioned 32 different lawsuits that involved women suing Wal-Mart. All of this has not affected Wal-Mart financially however, according to Fortune 500, Wal-Mart still had $351 billion in revenue ($11 billion in profit) in 2007, a new high for the corporation. (History of Walmart: Wikipedia)
An article in The Anniston Star, our local daily, states that revenue of Walmart stores have dropped 0.45% per quarter for the past year while competitors averaged an increase as follows, Target Stores 1.7%, Costco 8%, and Family Dollar 5.9%. This appears to have been caused by an error in judgment on the Walmart management’s part. They began a renovation of their stores in early 2009, and removed thousands of items from their shelves, seriously reducing their image of having anything the customer wanted. This author, has encountered the problem several times. Items which I formerly bought on a regular basis, I do not now find at all.
Also, it is 13 miles in distance for me to visit the nearest Walmart, whereas it is approximately 1 mile to our local Family Dollar. I find that they have about as good a selection in many things as does Walmart (Not in the grocery line) and I have found a few items which were cheaper than Walmart. Very few, if any, are costlier. True, the selection is not nearly as great overall, groceries, hardware, and larger more expensive items, but in the fields of detergents, deodorants, paper products, and so on, their selection is quite good, and well priced.
The article in our paper carries some remarks from interviews with Walmart spokesmen and it appears they are getting the message. I hope so. Some of my “picky” choices are things which I actually need and others I just want. But part of the damage is permanent with me. I will no longer purchase the same products at Walmart, which the local Family Dollar stocks regularly.
This Article has been viewed 594 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Hi Joel,
I thought I was the only one! I have not been a big fan of Walmart for several years since I discovered that most of their clothing is not only inexpensive, it's very poorly made and often the stores are quite unkempt, however, I kept going back because of their superior selection in hardware, garden center, home goods, etc. Then after the renovation, they no longer had that advantage, so I stopped going altogether. I discovered my local Ace Hardware and another garden center. Target has better home goods and Kohl's has better clothing. I don't know what Walmart could do now to get me back.Thanks Jean for reading and the comment. I also have lost my close attachment with them. There are still a few Items that I just can't seem to find elsewhere so I am not blackballing them altogether. But as you say, I don't think I will ever go there again just for paper towels, etc. And I am sincerely glad that I discovered that the Family Dollar store has so many of the brands and items I like. It is just a few blocks away.
Great article daddy! Not only has the selection dropped drastically at the local Walmart here but it's absolutely the most frustrating store I've ever shopped at... from the inadequate parking to the overcrowding inside! I absolutely despise going into it! I'll go anywhere else if it's at all possible. I really enjoyed this one daddy. Love you, LindaHi Linda, thanks for reading and commenting. They used to have some items that I really appreciated them handling. And since they have dropped them, the only way I can get them is to order them online. You know how picky I am when I want a certain brand. I love you too. Daddy
I think it might depend on the Wal-Mart. the clothing I get there I love (White Stag, Faded Glory and Bobbie Brooks a few years back are trusted names from my childhood and wear like iron) My hubby doesn't care much for Faded Glory for him.....thanks for this article. I still find that I can't shop anywhere else especially for groceries - I shop at about 6 different Wal-Marts due to our being out in the boonies - some are always neat and tidy with well stocked shelves and others not so much... interestingly enough the highest priced Wal-Marts are in the poorer areas of town - I asked why and was some have to get flood insurance and the theft loss is greater in the poorer areas. Interesting. Everywhere I have asked clerks if the like working there and they all seem to enjoy it. My neighbor didn't and she quit. Whose to say?Hi Marijo, thanks for your comment. I understand what you are saying. I'm not angry with them, they have saved me a lot of money over the years...all I'm saying now is that I have discovered that they aren't what they once were and I'm not going to drive the 12 miles to the nearest one for just a few items, especially the ones available right around me. I used to make that trip an average of twice weekly...no more. It will be more like once or twice monthly from now on.
I'll take part of the above back...I am a little angry for their abitrarily removing so many items from their shelves. I have a chronic skin problem which I have to treat regularly. The medication is available anywhere but they did have large tubes of it under their brand name Equate, at a lower price than a tube exactly half as large of the brand name. Incidentally, I once worked as a supervisor for several years in a White Stag plant. They produced high quality stuff then. I don't know how high quality it still is since they have moved all their manufacturing overseas.I haven't been disappointed in White Stag and I am a seamstress (since I was 12 I have sewn clothes that I wear and mom taught us to be real nit pickey so I check things out well!)
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.