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I used to shop at WalMart almost exclusively. Then, starting a year or so ago, I noticed they stopped stocking the shelves. Almost everything I went in for that day was out of stock. I took pictures and emailed them into corporate.
The next week I went in, same thing. There was the paper towel aisle with no paper towels. The Smucker's jam shelf with no jam, just jelly. No beans. No Prego marinara sauce, no wheat pasta. No flour. No sugar! I couldn't believe it. I now go to Target, which is right across the street. It's cleaner, has better clientele, and fully stocked shelves. Their produce is decent, unlike WalMart's which is halfway rotten by the time it hits the shelf.
We gave WalMart a month to stock their shelves, and eventually gave up.
I'm not sure what WalMart is doing, but you can't sell product you don't have.
Exactly^^^. We ended up coming out with about 1/2 of the stuff on our list. Then, there is the hike from the pet/tool/garden to the grocery past lots of clothing we have no interest in. I always encountered others looking and looking trying to find something that Wal-Mart usually had. Also, the lower priced brand is always on the bottom so you have to squat on the floor to get it. At 61 years old, this is more of a workout then I need from a store. I did notice that most seniors avoid the store.
I do get items from Wal-Mart online which brings me to another issue. I noticed that the wii games that my son was purchasing were often $10.00 less on line. He is an adult with developmental disabilities and he works hard for his money. I quit letting him look in the store and just let him choose online. Sadly, many without internet are the ones who could use a $10.00 break most.
We have been told in electronics "You should just go online and shop for a TV, video player etc because they had no idea when one might come in especially with the tvs although they often have the much higher priced available in the back!
The produce is awful even when it looks OK and it is much more expensive than just the regular grocery store here. And, then, there is "Great Value NOT" there store label and both the Best Choice and Kroger brands are better than those and those brands are usually on sale now and then unlike the "Great Value NOT".
So, I don't think Wal-Mart has a clue what their problem is if they think the issue has to do with paying the employees more. They should not expect taxpayers to provide what they won't to their employees. Many of those people work very hard and Wal-Mart treats them like slave labor.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,260,275 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by redguard57
Wal-Mart is somewhat like McDonald's. It's not that they're going to fail or anything, but they won't dominate their sector as much as they once it.
There may be something to that, but the difference is that for Walmart the competition is online. For McD, the competition is the food. People are willing to spend more for Fatburger, 5 Guys, and other places with real burgers. Mothers used to take their kids after soccer practice to Mcd for a quick dinner, now we see them at the more expensive places while both our McD and Jack in the Box have mostly empty lots and drive-ups.
WMT has been losing ground for years now. This is no surprise in terms of the stock performance over the past year. They had a chance to rebrand themselves years ago. The shift involving consumers wanting natural, organic, and overall healthier products really left Wal-Mart behind. Amazon, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, etc have taken that market share now. Even Target is way ahead of Wal-Mart in this area.
Add to all of this the stigma attached to WMT of their questionable ethical practices over the years. Wal-Mart had a chance to revamp, but it seems it is too late to see any major sustainable growth at this point. Their best bet would be to really focusing on growing their online front.
Walmart took to charging vendors for product inventories that Walmart keeps in their warehouses.
If the vendors said no then Walmart's warehouses won't have inventory to get out to the shelves in a timely manner.
Walmart operates in 27 countries, the US being just one of them.
This is the economics/business forum. Take your political rant to the P&OC forum.
A-What?..Walmrt has been operating u here like 2 miles from my front door and has had to play by OUR rules/regulations since I can remember..HAS nothing to do with Poitics of your Country..It's a Global ability of such a large retail company who never evolved..and learned from the demise of all those other international known retailers...Somehow they believed low prices would be their saviour..BUT their Politics actually caused much distancing with their business practice.. Walmart is and was LATE to the game of Online purchasing power...as that took a total restructuring their business model...I happen to know because both my boys have worked with Walmart for 2 decades!! They learned just a year or so ago or changes..LOL..SMH
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldhag1
A friend of mine told me when they got rid of the material Department that Walmart had reached its peak and was going to start going downhill. Most large retailers rise on certain principles and when they get to be top dog start changing those principles. Once the family turned away from Sam Walton's model this was just the inevitable. Sears, JCPenney's, Kmart, Montgomery Wards, Woolworths, and many other stores went through this.
If Walmart were so silly as not actually realize how the marketplace is going/evolving and consumer spending habits..THAT's on them..so blaming minimum wage requirements is just a political spin..as Walmart has paid according to whatever Country demands on that front!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldtrader
All these Walmart haters should look at the real figures of where they stand.
One trend of Walmart is building smaller stores. Reason, they have been able to shift a big percentage of their business to the Internet. They are going the same path a lot of companies are going. The Internet is the wave of the future.
My wife and I are both in our mid 80s, and we have a locally owned grocery in our town. Prices are high, so we only buy our perishables there.
A year ago, we discovered grocery shopping via Walmart. Instead of driving 45 minutes to an hour to get to where the big stores are with better prices, we shop at Walmart.com
We have found we can save 1 1/2 to 2 hours drive time. We no longer have to wear ourselves out going up and down aisles for an hour or so. We don't have to spend all that time at checkout, and we don't have to unload the groceries into our Explorer, and have to load them back out at home.
I just sit at a computer, and in half an hour can do a big order of all the non perishable food items, pay for it over the Internet, and wait about an average of 5 days and it is delivered to our door. I have a wagon sitting by the door and the deliverymen put the boxes in the wagon and pull it to the kitchen to unload. One thing we have found, is a lot of major brand foods identical to what we would buy at a store, are cheaper over the Internet than at even the Walmart store. Often as much as 20% cheaper. Savings---3 to 4 hours time. Save money on prices. Save $15 to $20 in gasoline, plus save a lot of wear and tear on the car. And we save our energy not having to drive to the store, not having to go all over the store to make our purchases wearing ourselves out, take time to go through check out, and have to take the purchases out to the car and unload it.
WAGES: All retail is low paying. Walmart is not such a terrible low income place to work. In fact it is one of the best ones. Here are 10 big companies and how they rate pay wise as of the current time. Note that most big retail chains do not even make the list. The idea they are one of the lowest paying retail stores is NOT TRUE. Just another false rumors spread by Walmart haters.
Their customers are not all low level income wise. Depends on where the store is locate. We have three available to us within an hours drive. Not one is in a low rent district. They are all very middle class. In St George Utah where we used to live there were 2 stores. One located on the northern end of town, in a very middle to upper middle class area of town. The other was located in the High Rent District shall we say on the southern suburb, where the bigger money lived. You would see upper end cars all over the parking lot. Really not in low income areas. Walmart does put a lot of stores in low income areas, to serve people living in them. They also put them in middle class areas, and in high income areas because they want to serve everybody.
Walmart as store leases run out, will be replacing the store with a smaller one, as they move their business more and more to the Internet. This will reduce their labor costs, and is one reason they recently could afford to raise their pay rate. They are starting to install KIOSKS in stores, where you can buy via the Internet, and have someone there to lead you through it. You get Free Shipping on over $50 orders. Walmart is one of the fastest changing retail chains in the country and most people do not even realize it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by J.Thomas
OMG!!
I'm so disappointed to see so many Walmart haters
Walmart is good business.
And this recent slide in sales is not because of them losing sales to competition.
All retail is going down for real.
I don't Hate Walmart per say..What I do dislike is how their political spin mysters try to suggest in their headlines..Walmart is failing due to Minimum wage demands in the USA.. It's all bunch of BS BS!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnywhereElse
Exactly^^^. We ended up coming out with about 1/2 of the stuff on our list. Then, there is the hike from the pet/tool/garden to the grocery past lots of clothing we have no interest in. I always encountered others looking and looking trying to find something that Wal-Mart usually had. Also, the lower priced brand is always on the bottom so you have to squat on the floor to get it. At 61 years old, this is more of a workout then I need from a store. I did notice that most seniors avoid the store.
I do get items from Wal-Mart online which brings me to another issue. I noticed that the wii games that my son was purchasing were often $10.00 less on line. He is an adult with developmental disabilities and he works hard for his money. I quit letting him look in the store and just let him choose online. Sadly, many without internet are the ones who could use a $10.00 break most.
We have been told in electronics "You should just go online and shop for a TV, video player etc because they had no idea when one might come in especially with the tvs although they often have the much higher priced available in the back!
The produce is awful even when it looks OK and it is much more expensive than just the regular grocery store here. And, then, there is "Great Value NOT" there store label and both the Best Choice and Kroger brands are better than those and those brands are usually on sale now and then unlike the "Great Value NOT".
So, I don't think Wal-Mart has a clue what their problem is if they think the issue has to do with paying the employees more. They should not expect taxpayers to provide what they won't to their employees. Many of those people work very hard and Wal-Mart treats them like slave labor.
"You reap what you sow."
The Company sure has profited with their business model..and never altered it from BACK IN THE DAY..Finally..reality has caught up with them..BUT you know..None of those Patriarchs will ever feel the pinch..however..investors will!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by redguard57
Wal-Mart is somewhat like McDonald's. It's not that they're going to fail or anything, but they won't dominate their sector as much as they once it.
Yep..Companies who don't evolve nor treat their employees well/fairly..their trail will get narrowed..because young up and coming entrepreneurs with innovative with adaptive ideas..make that difference!! Walton's best WAKE up and smell the coffee!! Their Business Model hadn't change one bit for over 35 years..and just 2 years ago started to...initially dividing and separating, renaming their Company bah blah...sounds familiar for anyone who received notice their Insurance coverage is NOW under New name..and coverage hasn't changed LOL..Until you try and collect on that policy..LOL
Yep..Companies who don't evolve nor treat their employees well/fairly..their trail will get narrowed..because young up and coming entrepreneurs with innovative with adaptive ideas..make that difference!! Walton's best WAKE up and smell the coffee!! Their Business Model hadn't change one bit for over 35 years..and just 2 years ago started to...initially dividing and separating, renaming their Company bah blah...sounds familiar for anyone who received notice their Insurance coverage is NOW under New name..and coverage hasn't changed LOL..Until you try and collect on that policy..LOL
I really don't understand what you are talking about.
They are rated as one of the best paying Retail Chains in the nation. They pay better than almost all other chains, including the high end retail department stores. They are rated as being one of the top ten best department store chains.
Walmart simply gives the reasons that their profits are down slightly, and someone jumps on them for saying higher wages are one of the things that brought their profits down. They would have known this effect before they raised wages across the company, and have anticipated it. They know that along with other changes being made, and know that this is not going to do any serious damage to the company.
Last edited by oldtrader; 10-15-2015 at 10:43 PM..
A friend of mine told me when they got rid of the material Department that Walmart had reached its peak and was going to start going downhill. Most large retailers rise on certain principles and when they get to be top dog start changing those principles. Once the family turned away from Sam Walton's model this was just the inevitable. Sears, JCPenney's, Kmart, Montgomery Wards, Woolworths, and many other stores went through this.
I love when people say a retailer is "invincible". I'm sure people have said that at one time or another each of these retailers.
And then one day you'll have "abandoned Walmarts" like you have abandoned malls.
Walmart and other big box retailers have seen their profits eaten into by none other than those who fly similar flags. Target introducing food, Costco wooing with higher quality goods, Amazon, well, the name says it all, and yes even the dollar stores are in the game with their ever expanding inventory of name brand goods. All total these competitors have eaten a small bit of Wally's lunch, but when you operate on a small margin with an expectation of an ever growing market share as a revenue enhancer you don't need competition you need propaganda.
It's lure of lowest prices has generated some backlash of criticism, the refrain of protesters stating the obvious "lowest wages always" mantra has allowed more than a tad bit of morality to seep into the buyer's choice of shopping destinations. Walmart's negative views on employee compensation, not just the wages but their total benefit package, or lack of one is brought to the fore when ever their pricing structure is mentioned, and that has often brought their advertising to the level of a social concerns discussion.
If people can't discern BS from truth in the great Walmart debate then they'll simply have to rely on their news talking heads to interpret the claims of modern American businesses with regard to labor compensation. Sam Walton had his own misgivings about the notions held in America's biggest corporate boardrooms with regard to labor, community, and business in general.
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