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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...

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Wal-Mart Canada has faced some big labor problems lately. A 2005 lawsuit against the company’s anti-union labor practices made it to the Canadian Supreme Court this month, and at almost the same time workers in a Wal-Mart garage in Gatineau, Quebec managed to unionze, much to the company’s chagrin. So the company’s PR department did what it does best: divert attention.

David Cheesewright, CEO of Wal-Mart Canada, announced today that all of the company’s new Canadian stores will be “energy efficient.” The retailer has yet to meet any independent guidelines for energy efficiency, so its environmental claims are somewhat unclear, but the announcement comes at a time when Wal-Mart Canada could use some serious public relations karma.

Cheesewright insisted that the efficiency improvements were simply cost-saving measures, and said “environmental sustainability and business sustainability—it’s the same thing.” However, the company has yet to announce any such measures for its U.S. stores - or its stores in any other country, for that matter. The number of “energy efficient” Wal-Mart stores remains a pitifully small percentage of the company’s total operations. So if Cheesewright’s statements are true, Wal-Mart is missing out on a lot of cost savings - and we all know Wal-Mart wouldn’t do a thing like that. Perhaps the retailer is actually just looking for some free PR among our neighbors to the north.

Wal-Mart aims for ‘greenest stores on the block’ [Financial Post (Canada)]

Wal-Mart Canada Corp. pushed its green agenda ahead Tuesday by pledging that all new stores will be built to be markedly more energy efficient, and existing stores will be retrofitted to make them more environmentally friendly.

“Wal-Mart Canada (WMT/NYSE) has been intensely dedicated to environmental sustainability over the past three years,” Wal-Mart Canada CEO David Cheesewright said at the annual meeting of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario on Tuesday. “Perhaps no change has been as significant as those made to the way we build and operate our buildings. And the changes are progressing. We are confident that Wal-Mart stores will be among the greenest on the block.”

Read the rest of this story ...

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A recent survey by SAP AG and wRatings entitled “Retail and Consumer Goods 2008: Most Competitive Companies in America” ranked retailers on the basis of two metrics: financial performance and customer satisfaction. While many well-known retailers, such as Gap, Family Dollar, and Amazon made the list, Wal-Mart was left out. We were stunned, considering that Wal-Mart has always managed to hold its own in such surveys alongside reputable companies as Halliburton and Blackwater USA.

Because the SAP measure takes into account customer satisfaction, as well as the financial fundamentals, corporations that fail miserably on one of the metrics would be expected to place poorly in the overall survey. Thus, Wal-Mart’s sound financial figures in the midst of poor economic times would enable it to place high, were it not for the fine detail of its miserable customer service record. The report provides some rationale behind this by stating that “competing on price alone is a winless” strategy. “Companies must find ways to become the preferred choice of consumers in more ways than price,” the report claims, insinuating that a sustainable business model must focus on customer service and workplace satisfaction, as well as cost. Wal-Mart has failed to take into account all measures of a healthy, sustainable corporation, choosing instead to pursue bargain-basement labor costs at the expense of quality customer service. It is interesting to note that the top two retailers in the SAP survey - Publix and Coach - have committed to excellence in both its employee relations and customer relations, through impressive stock-option plans and customer-focused measures:

Rating the Retailer [Women’s Wear Daily]

On the retail side, Publix Super Markets Inc. captured the top slot for the second year in a row. Williams suggests the fact that Publix is employee-managed has something to do with the food retailer’s success. “If you’re an employee and you own stock, you’re going to do a better job,” he said, adding this should be incorporated into best practices for many firms. “Why don’t other companies look at giving employees stock? It shows up in their customer service rankings.”

Coach Inc. holds the second spot on the list this year. “Coach has had great economic profit for years,” Williams said. “It keeps getting better. Coach is enormously consumer-oriented and has a huge database of what consumers want and tracks [products] from all over the world. Coach is also very good at introducing products that are attuned to the next generation of things.”

“Retail and Consumer Goods 2008: Most Competitive Companies in America”

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A new study out today from the Reputation Institute ranks the world’s largest corporations based on the overall trust, esteem, admiration and good feelings consumers have toward them. Unsurprisingly, Wal-Mart didn’t do so well. Despite being the world’s largest corporation, Wal-Mart didn’t even make the top 200 for most-admired global companies. Among the 150 U.S. companies included in the study, Wal-Mart came in at an embarassingly low 136, down from last year’s rank of 57. To put that in perspective, Halliburton came in last at 150.

Rankings like these expose a major weakness of Wal-Mart’s business model: treating people badly makes shoppers dislike you. R.I. explains why “good feelings” are important to a company’s bottom line:

Research shows that people act based on their feelings. They are more likely to buy the products of companies they trust, to work for the organizations they respect, and to recommend companies they like.

Which means Wal-Mart’s efforts to save money no matter what the cost are actually costing the company dearly. Wal-Mart’s business model involves skimping on wages and benefits but sinking millions of dollars in to marketing and PR, a method which is wearing thin. Studies such as this one reveal Wal-Mart’s strategy isn’t a long-term solution to the company’s environmental and labor problems. It’s not too late for Wal-Mart to improve its practices, but the company will have to start making comprehensive changes - not cosmetic ones.

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We received quite an interesting note yesterday in our mailbox. It was from the Director of Public Relations for Wal-Mart China! He wrote in to let us know what he thinks of our website.

Mr. Dong seems upset that we are “spreading misinformation.” After all, it’s unfair to spin stories to make your organization appear in a better light - oh wait, Wal-Mart’s already done that. Like a hundred thousand times. I think they actually hire people to do that professionally. What’s that position called? Director of......Public Elations? Oh - Director of Public Relations! That’s it! So Jonathan Dong is criticizing our organization for spinning news stories, when that is, in fact, his full time job.

Let’s first address Mr. Dong’s cries of sensationalism. The original articles he mentions are here (original version) and here. We’ll let you judge for yourselves.

Secondly, Mr. Dong expressed some concerns about our inability to read Chinese media reports. To which we respond: who says we don’t? The articles on our website didn’t translate themselves; Wal-Mart Watch does our own translations and stands by them. We even keep a Mandarin-language blog, hosted on a Chinese server. Last we checked, the Chinese media wasn’t too keen on Wal-Mart, and as the company has expanded retail operations in the country, opposition has been continually mounting. We’re willing to bet that’s why Wal-Mart China needs a Director of Public Relations in the first place.

Thirdly, Mr. Dong’s request that we “pursue high ethical and moral standards” is simply sad. For a PR director from the world’s largest corporation to ask a small non-profit working on behalf of low-wage employees to behave more ethically seems backwards and backhanded. Perhaps Mr. Dong could direct his criticisms to his own company before trying to reform others.

In conclusion, thank you for your suggestions, Mr. Dong. We’d be happy to stop sensationalizing your company’s news if Wal-Mart does the same and closes up its massive PR spin shop. But more to the point, we think that your company is hardly one to question others’ morals or ethics. 

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Wal-Mart’s been named the biggest corporation in the world for the second year in a row by Fortune Magazine’s Global 500. The company payroll exceed 2 million people this year, and continues to grow… along with company profits. The company earned over $378 billion last year - making it the world’s largest company by revenue - and $12.7 billion of that was profits. Despite a profit margin the size of a small national economy, the company still couldn’t find the money to make sure all its employees have health care, raise wages OR source their products responsibly. Wal-Mart certainly deserves recognition for its size, but there’s so much more the company could do with its wealth. We look forward to the day when the world’s largest company is a leader on social responsibility, too.

1. Wal-Mart Stores [Fortune]

Retaining its spot as the largest company in the world, the retail giant spent the last year making strides toward becoming friendlier to its workers and the environment. Long derided for the limited health-care packages offered to its employees, the company focused on expanding its options. As of January, 93.7% of Wal-Mart’s U.S. employees had some form of health care, up from 90.4% last year.

On the sustainability front, the retailer sold 145 million energy-efficient light bulbs in 15 months and joined forces with the Clinton Climate Initiative. Some say it isn’t enough; a union-backed ad campaign by WakeUpWalMart.com at the end of 2007 targeted the quality of the company’s imported products.

Still far from pleasing all its critics, Wal-Mart did please its shoppers: Its renewed focus on lower prices delivered a stellar second half, bolstering total revenue for the year to $379 billion.