Wal-Mart Stores’ Size Works Against Them
Wal-Mart’s store redesigns are meant to boost sales, by making products both more enticing and easier to find. As today’s article from the Wall Street Journal states, Wal-Mart (among others) has found that building as big a store as possible is not always the best way to sell merchandise. Wal-Mart can try to make its stores “more convenient” with a new coat of paint and parquet floors, but perhaps the most effective way to meet this end would be to keep stores fully staffed with knowledgable full-time employees.
Big Boxes Aim to Speed Up Shopping [Wall Street Journal]
The average shopper at a Wal-Mart supercenter spends 21 minutes in the store but finds only seven of the 10 items on his or her shopping list.
As Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, tries to boost flagging sales growth, one key is helping customers find and buy those eighth, ninth and 10th items before they rush off to their kid’s soccer game. So the chain is attempting to make its sprawling stores easier to navigate. Among the changes: better signs to help shoppers find merchandise, more convenient placement of hot-selling items and staffing changes to speed up checkout times.
“We don’t decide how long the people are in the store,” Wal-Mart marketing chief Stephen Quinn explains. “What we decide is how easy it is for you within the 21 minutes you’ve allocated to get what you want.”
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, June 27 | 1 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Stalls on Green Report Release
Wal-Mart postpones its green report [Financial Times]
Wal-Mart, the largest US retailer, has had to postpone the publication of an online report on its environmental and social sustainability efforts seen by its critics as a test of its commitment to greater corporate transparency on non-financial issues.
When Wal-Mart announced a push to improve its sustainability record in October 2005, it said it would issue its first report on its progress by spring 2007.
Social activist shareholders have been pressing the company to follow other US corporations such as General Electric and Coca-Cola in producing a report that allows its efforts on issues such as global warming and supply chain conditions to be assessed.
However, a draft presented informally to independent advisers and non-profit groups this year was rejected as inadequate.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, June 25 | 3 comments | Permalink
Victory in Colorado: Littleton Voters Say NO to New Wal Mart
A vote of Littleton, CO citizens stopped Wal-Mart from building a Supercenter in their town. About 60% of people voted to keep the 187,000 square feet a park. Bentonville probably won’t give up entirely without a fight, but it’s clear: the majority of voting Littleton residents want to keep South Santa Fe Drive Wal-Mart-free.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, June 20 | 26 comments | Permalink
New Report from Wal-Mart Watch: Wal-Mart in Crisis
At its annual shareholder meeting earlier this month, Wal-Mart announced plans to slow construction of new domestic stores, a first in the company’s history. Wal-Mart’s business model has depended on new store construction to remain successful, and this announcement has major implications for the company. Our new report, “Wal-Mart in Crisis: How the World’s Largest Retailer Lost its Way,” examines what these developments mean for Wal-Mart. From the introduction:
Wal-Mart’s attempts to sustain its growth during the past few years have been met with enormous challenges and setbacks. Its same-store sales numbers are down, its stock is flat, its growth has leveled off and it is continuously plagued by self-inflicted public relations problems. While other large U.S. retailers like Target and Costco are prospering, Wal-Mart is floundering…
This special report from Wal-Mart Watch, “Wal-Mart in Crisis: How the World’s Largest Retailer Lost Its Way,” provides insight into the dilemma Wal-Mart faces as it attempts to turn its massive ship around. It examines the immediate and long-term growth problems of the company and offers evidence that Wal-Mart must re-examine its business model to sustain itself and adequately address upcoming challenges.
Click here to download the full report (PDF) >>
Posted by Media Team on Wednesday, June 20 | 8 comments | Permalink
Consumer Safety at Wal-Mart
Our newest fact sheet examines how Wal-Mart frquently fails to protect consumers, both by stocking unsafe products on its shelves and failing to remove them if and when recalls are issued. The multiple food and product recalls in recent weeks - many of which solely affected Wal-Mart - have exposed these cracks in the company’s infrastructure. In regards to Wal-Mart’s role in the US food supply chain:
As the world’s largest company and the nation’s leading grocer, Wal-Mart’s actions have a tremendous impact on the health and safety of Americans. While it squeezes suppliers to get the lowest costs for products, Wal-Mart neglects to ensure that those products are safe. Low prices should not be offered at the expense of consumer safety. Wal-Mart’s track record is not trustworthy as highlighted briefly below.
From food to flowers to bibs to toys, learn more about Consumer Safety at Wal-Mart (PDF) >>
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, June 15 | 22 comments | Permalink
Eroding the Organic Brand
Has big business turned organics into ‘yuppy chow’? [Globe and Mail (Canada)]
Organic food is being taken over by big business, marketed as “yuppie chow” for the privileged, and increasingly packaged with as little concern for the environment as conventional food production, says a York University academic researcher.
In a paper to be presented on Friday at Canada’s largest gathering of social sciences scholars, Irena Knezevic says that most of the major organic brands on the North American market are now owned by large corporations such as ConAgra, Cargill, Kraft, Coca Cola and Pepsi.
She says their products - along with those sold by retail giants such as Loblaws and Wal-Mart - are turning organic agriculture into product brands that are becoming “a marketing tool more so than an assurance of quality, let alone an assurance of a fair and sustainable production process.”
Officials from Loblaws and Wal-Mart were unavailable for comment last night.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, May 30 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Watch Calls on Wal-Mart Board to Help Change Retail Giant
In a letter delivered to Wal-Mart’s Board of Directors, Wal-Mart Watch and more than 7,500 supporters call on the board to make help changes at the company. Wal-Mart’s 14 directors will each receive a packet today that includes the letters signed by 7,526 Wal-Mart Watch supporters, and a DVD compilation of personal appeals to board members. From thousands of comments sent in by Wal-Mart Watch supporters, the letter highlights nine individuals who voiced their concerns over Wal-Mart’s unfair labor practices, prohibitive health care plan and impact on local communities.
As Kristen from Upland, California put it:
“Wal-Mart can be about so much more than making money. It can be about leading the industry in fair labor practices. It can be about leading the field in environmentally sensitive causes. To many that I know Wal-Mart has become a symbol of all that disturbs them about big business. You CAN change their minds and get them back into your stores by showing the kind of compassion for the world around you that wins the hearts and minds of your customers.”
THANK YOU to all the dedicated supporters who signed the letter: your help is fundamental in pressuring Wal-Mart to change its practices and behave as a responsible corporate citizen.
Click here to read the letter in its entirety. >>
Click here to watch the video sent to the Board of Directors. >>
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, May 30 | 0 comments | Permalink
Asda Abandons Green Packaging Initiative
Asda, Wal-Mart’s United Kingdom counterpart, recent announced it will be dropping its packaging initiatives after several months of heavily promoting the drive.
Store ditches green scheme [The Press (UK)]
A supermarket chain is dropping a scheme which encouraged shoppers to leave excess packaging outside its city stores.
Asda said customers had not been as enthusiastic as expected about the pilot project at its Monks Cross outlet.
The chain had asked shoppers to put excess packaging into huge wheelie bins in front of its York store and another in Dewsbury.
But lack of demand means the supermarket is winding up the scheme and will not extend it nationwide.
Asda is instead asking customers to report excess packaging via its website.
“Customers weren’t that keen on removing the packaging there and then,” a spokesman said.
Asda’s four-week pilot project was launched after environment minister Ben Bradshaw urged shoppers to leave unnecessary” packaging behind at stores.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, May 23 | 0 comments | Permalink
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