Wal-Mart’s Shoppers Less Loyal Than Other Retailers’, Study Says
A story out today from Advertising Age has an in-depth break down of Wal-Mart’s current business and marketing strategy. Most retailers are scrambling to stay afloat as the economy declines, but in the last month Wal-Mart has seen rises in both its stock price and profits.
Shoppers are trading down, and Wal-Mart is as low as they can go. A bad economy has always been good for Wal-Mart, and today’s recession-like atmosphere is no different. Wal-Mart’s execs claim the recent boost in sales is due to a “strategic three-year plan,” but most analysts agree: when the going gets tough, the tough go to Wal-Mart.
“But,” says one analyst quoted in the article, “there is a chink in the armor of Wal-Mart, which is these customers are not saying they necessarily feel loyalty.” Though more people are shopping at the low-price retailer, they’re not likely to stay. Wal-Mart’s only advantage is its prices: customer service, product quality and company ethics are all secondary objectives, and shoppers know that. Brand loyalty might not be a problem for Wal-Mart now, but once the economy improves the company could face the consequences for putting low prices above all else.
Wal-Mart Grinning Big Through the Tough Times [Advertising Age]
Looking for a silver lining in the economy? It’s shining brightly from Bentonville, Ark.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, October 06 | 3 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Kicks Off Christmas 85 Days Early
Christmas decorations usually start showing up in stores starting in early November. By the time Thanksgiving rolls around, shallow panic sets in and consumers start acting like starving hyenas hungry for merchandise. Retailers only make the savage atmosphere worse by discounting for a-limited-time-only and pitting shopper against shopper for the hottest toy or lowest price. Now, a full three months before Christmas, Wal-Mart says: Let the games begin.
Wal-Mart Cuts Prices on Toys for Holidays [Dow Jones Newswire via Wall Street Journal]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it will cut prices on some of the most popular toys and speed up the opening of Christmas shops in its stores nationwide as it tries to lure budget-conscious shoppers and jump start its biggest selling season.
Ten toys, from butterfly-winged Barbie Mariposa to Fur Real Newborn Animals, are priced at $10 apiece, the Bentonville, Ark.-based company said Wednesday.
Wal-Mart said its moves to get an early start on the holiday selling season are warranted for several reasons. Shoppers are facing higher energy prices and food costs as well as a sluggish economy and the credit crunch. They are expected to start their Christmas shopping earlier and make other changes to help stretch their holiday budgets.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, October 02 | 2 comments | Permalink
CALIFORNIA SITE FIGHT: PRO-WAL-MART SURVEY THOUROUGLY DEBUNKED IN ATASCADERO
Independence of Wal-Mart surveyor questioned [New Times (Calif.)]
The Atascadero Chamber of Commerce is flaunting a recent survey as proof that there is “overwhelming” support from the business community to bring a Wal-Mart into town. But the results came from a company with ties to the controversial retail giant, and the Wal-Mart debate is heating up again in Atascadero.
The chamber paid $1,500 for a survey of local businesses, which was conducted by Los Angeles-based Cardinal Communication Strategies. Cardinal Communication Strategies is a subsidiary of Meridian Pacific, a public relations firm that has done work for Wal-Mart.
John Peschong, one of the early partners in Meridian Pacific, is also a partner with Cardinal Communication Strategies. Peschong did not respond to a request for comment before press time.
Cardinal Communication Strategies President Debbie McCall said she would not answer any questions, when contacted by New Times.
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Posted by Luke West on Thursday, September 25 | 0 comments | Permalink
ACNeilson Looks At “Wal-Mart Moms”… and Everyone Else Who Shops at Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart stockpiles massive amounts of information about its customers. The retailer’s databases are enormous - bigger than the internet - and the information contained on its servers includes everything from which aisles shoppers choose to go down to the time of day chocolate milk sells quickest.
Now, the statistics firm ACNeilson (best known for its TV viewership ratings) is taking Wal-Mart’s data and helping the retailer understand its shoppers even better. At a recent conference of Wal-Mart suppliers, Neilson reps broke down how many cartons of eggs, car parts, and bags of dog food Wal-Mart customers buy each year. The study also revealed the average household incomes of Wal-Mart’s shoppers, the average number of trips each shopper makes and how much shoppers spent at the stores, on average. Ultimately, Wal-Mart hopes to use this information to customize store inventories and increase profits.
The study comes at a time when political analysts everywhere are desperately trying to understand Wal-Mart’s core demographic. “Wal-Mart Moms” may be the key to November’s election, some pundits say. Political alignment might not have been on Neilson’s questionnaire, but the study does provide some insight. According to Neilson, the average Wal-Mart shopper is a “pet-loving, pasta-eating, car-driving, gadget-obsessed dieter who either doesn’t care for cheese or buys it elsewhere.” (That part about the cheese may or may not impact the election directly.)
The data in the study doesn’t provide a complete picture of Wal-Mart’s shoppers - and it certainly doesn’t encompass all of the middle-aged women being wooed by politicians - but Wal-Mart is trying harder than ever to win over “the core female head of household” i.e., the “Wal-Mart Mom.” The retailer isn’t alone in catering to this powerful group not alone, and who knows - maybe quality dog food actually is the secret to winning the presidency in November.
Marketing firm looks at Wal-Mart shopper, trends [NW Arkansas Morning News]
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, September 24 | 59 comments | Permalink
Walmart’s Poor Sportsmanship
This piece originally appeared on the Huffington Post
It is football season again and fans in communities across the country are turning out for high school games. They are probably wearing sweatshirts, t-shirts and other gear to cheer their local team. Unfortunately, if those fans bought their clothing from their local Walmart store, their team is not getting any financial support, and that means that the games may be numbered.
We recently received reports from all over the country about Walmart selling high school logo sportswear without the schools’ permission and without donating any of the profits. As a result, fundraising efforts are undercut and already thin school athletic budgets are stretched even further as local residents buy cheaper versions at Walmart.
The practice has likely been ongoing for years, but current economic problems and shrinking school budgets may be the catalyst for some schools to take a closer look at how Walmart’s effort puts a dent in their local programs.
It started on September 4, when KXLY-4 News out of Washington state reported that a local Wal-Mart was selling Cheney High School athletic gear without permission, and without donating any of the profits.
Several days later, the Kingsport Times-News reported that Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tennessee has repeatedly complained to Walmart about the practice and the school attorney has sent cease-and-desist letters. Then, last Friday - the Cheney Free Press reported that a host of schools in the Washington state area have been complaining about the same problem.
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Posted by David Nassar, Executive Director on Tuesday, September 23 | 1 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Reputation Problems Lead to Massive Image Overhaul
In case you hadn’t noticed, Wal-Mart has received some criticism for its business practices over the last few years. Condemnations of low wages, discrimination, environmental damage, damage to local economies and sweatshop sourcing have come at Wal-Mart from all angles. At some point, someone at the company realized these attacks might be bad for business.
So the company went on the offensive. Charles Fishman, author of The Wal-Mart Effect, explained to a conference of editorial writers this week that in recent months, Wal-Mart has made a massive effort to improve its image. Whereas the retailer once focused on lowering prices regardless of the cost, attacks on the company’s ethics made Wal-Mart realize the high price of behaving badly.
Fishman is certainly right on this point: after years of criticism, it seems Wal-Mart’s leadership finally recognized the value of a good reputation. Since its revelation, Wal-Mart has worked to highlight not only its low prices but its good deeds too, spending millions to publicize its environmental efforts and charitable giving. A new ad campaign, a new slogan and numerous public appearances by company executives drive home Wal-Mart’s new message: We’re not all bad, really.
Wal-Mart’s work to become a socially responsible company, however, is far from done. The company’s labor problems remain completely unresolved: wages and benefits for hourly workers are still paltry, allegations of union-busting remain rampant, and the company’s discriminatory practices have resulted in dozens of lawsuits in the last year alone. Labor issues are the most expensive to resolve, but a recent study (PDF) shows that shoppers take a company’s labor practices into consideration above all other social responsibility issues. The company cannot and will not succeed with its image overhaul until these issues are addressed.
Even Wal-Mart’s highly-touted environmental campaign has problems. While the company cites reduced packaging and organic cotton among its crowning achievements, Wal-Mart’s massive energy consumption, unsustainable land use, and unethical sourcing practices negate any positive impact the company might have. Poor product quality contributes to environmental problems too, and several recalls over the last year and a half reveal the high price of cutting costs. The company’s relationship with local communities continues to be a problem as well.
Like Mr. Fishman, we are also interested to know the impact of Wal-Mart’s environmental footprint - both good and bad. But any examination of Wal-Mart’s sustainability efforts should take into account the company as a whole - with all its problems, from factory to shopping cart - not just the side Wal-Mart wants us to see.
Two say Wal-Mart image on mend [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, September 19 | 76 comments | Permalink
In Memoriam: Wal-Mart Blog Dies Slow, Quiet Death
Check Out, we hardly knew ye.
Remember Wal-Mart’s Check Out Blog? The one that the New York Times gushed over back in March? The rowdy band of nine fearless buyers Wal-Mart unleashed to conquer the blogosphere with unfiltered wit and opinion? The birth of Check Out was a time of youthful idealism: finally, a corporate blog where ideas could run free, and highly paid marketers could say what they truly felt. The future looked bright.
But less than a year later, Check Out is dying.
We’ve counted three posts on the site in the last 36 days. The few posts tend to be either on video games or apologies for writing so few posts.
Blogger Susan’s last entry reads:
Just wanted to apologize for being out of touch for the past few months! Of course I have a reason...I was recently promoted to the Merchandise Manger over the Video Game and PC software categories. I have been busy learning my new role and feel terrible that I haven’t posted anything as of late.
Russell has also stopped writing, leaving the simple, homespun world of Check Out for the bright lights of more exciting things:
But, let me tell you blogging is hard work. Anyone that consistently maintains any type of online commentary is to be greatly commended. It isn’t so much finding time to post, for me. It isn’t even writer’s block. The problem is finding a compelling story to tell, one that I think other people would find interesting.
And Tifanie echoes Russell’s sentiment, sadly solidifying Check Out’s ghost town status:
I feel Russell’s pain on the blog front....if you would like to know something specific or have an interest you would like me to expound upon, feel free to make the request; otherwise, you will be subjected to my ramblings.
Most sadly though, sustainability guru Rand Waddoups has been missing in action since mid-July. Perhaps he got moved back to salty snacks and has secluded himself for months, racking his brain to invent the greatest Wal-Mart-exclusive salty snack of all time. (Rand: just let it go, it’s already been done.)
Meanwhile, the rest of us are left to mourn the loss of yet another Wal-Mart social media project. We can only hope another, similarly misguided replacement will come along soon...
Posted by Media Team on Wednesday, September 17 | 11 comments | Permalink
Deadly Bassinets: Part Deux
Several stories are out today warning consumers about dangerous dog food and soccer goals that are available at Wal-Mart and other retailers.
But the biggest story here is the ‘voluntary recall’ of 600,000 more ‘Simplicity’ bassinets available at Wal-Mart and other retailers, in a story from Wall Street Journal. This, barely three weeks after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a recall of 900,000 similar bassinets that Wal-Mart took its sweet time removing from their website.
The CPSC, in cooperation with the retailers affected by this week’s recall - including Wal-Mart - issued this statement. I wonder why then, Wal-Mart appears to still be selling several of the models (Camille and Providence) listed as dangerous by the CPSC (and Wal-Mart themselves!) on its website?
Posted by Luke West on Wednesday, September 17 | 10 comments | Permalink
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