W. Frank Dell II, CMC

Wal-Mart Taking Hits Over Price, Selection

March 9, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
Two separate articles conclude that Wal-Mart Stores is having a tougher go of it since the economy began to rebound, in part because a wide variety of competitors have found ways to beat the world's largest retailer on price. Do you see Wal-Mart as being more vulnerable to competition today than in the past?      [more...]

Wal-Mart's item selection was easy when Sam was running the show. All he stocked was the number one, two and three items in a category. He let the consumer decide what to carry. Today putting any item in Wal-Mart makes it number one in the category.

No question, Wal-Mart's item rationalization was done poorly. They tried to get an Aldi product selection and it failed. Much of their price advantage was from advertising. It was never cheaper than a supermarket on special. Their two tier price strategy reinforced the image versus the supermarket higher markup on slower selling items.