Bad Press for Walmart

HappyHarry said: "[url=http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&ncid=568&e=15&u=/nm/20050420/bs_nm/retail_walmart_dc]Walmart haters organize[/url] against Walmart. Can it hurt?"

AlfredSokol said: "Sure it can hurt. Anyone advertises AGAINST your product, it makes doing business that much harder. Let's face it: many WalMart workers ARE on welfare. Therefore, taxpayers do help subsidize their business. That's hardly fair."

Heather said: "I know of a couple cities that aren't too happy with Wal Mart and the way they do business. The same thing happened in both towns. They built a pretty good size Wal Mart back in the late 80's. Using the Wal Mart as an "anchor" store, they built shopping centers that had about 10-15 other retailers. Stuff like fashion bug, a shoe store, a discount drug store, etc. Then in the late 90's the Wal Marts from the 80's weren't big enough, so they moved them to another part of town. The whole shopping center sits empty. (There was a giant apple orchard on the ground prior to them building) There aren't that many useful applications for buildings that size. So it sits empty retail. They are in the process of doing the same thing in another town about 30 miles away.."

bobjitsu said: "Funny how the workers at Wal-Mart are for the most part happy, it's the jackasses on the sidelines who make the stink in guise of "helping" the Wal-Mart employees. This is a free country, if you don't like what a company is offering for employment you are free to go elsewhere and be paid what you think you are worth."

chahinemm said: "but still even bad press is free advertisment for Wall-mart now more people know about them then the usual advertising and that can at least have some positive impact IMO. not necessarily only negative. chahine"

lil dickie said: "I think Wal-Mart faces a lot of pressures. I really think at some point they have to move off of a growth strategy and focus on profitability."

chahinemm said: "[QUOTE=lil dickie]I think Wal-Mart faces a lot of pressures. I really think at some point they have to move off of a growth strategy and focus on profitability.[/QUOTE] i don't think their strategy is profitability because they have the lowest retail cost price ratio, they barely increase their prices (because the risk to that would allow other smaller competitors to enter the market fairly easily) they are targeting their mass audience and also their logistics expertise to cut down costs and maximize the small profit margin they have... wise or nuts CEO to do that efficiently without getting into trouble someday. chahine"

Darren said: "why hasn't anyone really competed with walmart?"

chahinemm said: "[QUOTE=ben]why hasn't anyone really competed with walmart?[/QUOTE] i think there is competition but they are not large enough to effect at this point in time. A lot of the retailers need to become more voluminous and go for lower profit margin and higher turnover of their goods and i think it will automatically create challenge for them. not forgetting that wallmart has a very very very sophisticated logistic structure that allowed them reduce expenses tremendously so until some1 is not going to challenge them in those domains its going to be a lot harder to compete with them. not forgeting that the wages they pay are lower the shelving fees taking the average of number of stores is comperitively a lot lower. they are not worried about union pressure. however till what point can wallmart continue to grow at this pace without jeperdizing their market hold. are the consumers continually going to look for cheap stuff, is the market going to continually favour them, what could happen if they decide to go towards a high profit margin vs high growth strategy that they have. what would the consumers perception become if the change above occurs note i should quit being a couch potatoe makes me think too much... :D :D back to lord of the rings just bought the dvd ;) chahine"

HappyHarry said: "Walmart is in uncharted territory when it comes to managing a complex human operation. There work force is over 1.5 million! How can they get the best out of people?"

bobjitsu said: "[QUOTE=HappyHarry] There work force is over 1.5 million! How can they get the best out of people?[/QUOTE] Whips and chains. :D"

AlfredSokol said: "For a lot of Walmart employees, there's no place else to go. That helps motivation ;)"

lil dickie said: "I've noticed a trend towards local retailers fighting a lot harder than usual to stop WalMart from coming to town."

scl789 said: "Look up the game theory thats why walmart has done so good, they dont have a dominant strategy."

Heather said: "It is a mixed bag with Wal-Mart. They always give the mom and pop shops a run for their money. That doesn't always help things either.."

Scorp74 said: "WalMart is still a little slack on grocery inventory. I will tell you one thing, the local supermarkets have gotten rid of most baggers in favor of the automated check out. The thing sucks. I'm sure WalMart can take more and more customers with no problem because of the lack of service at the grocers. At least you're out in 15 minutes at WalMart."

Heather said: "The Super Wal-Marts are full scale grocery stores. Plus they offer regular Wal-Mart stuff, too. It's cheaper to shop there.."