Gene Hoffman

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...]

When one recalls all the great retailers in the past with #1 market share who no longer last it encourages speculation that Wal-Mart too could become vulnerable.

Today, Wal-Mart has many retailers trying to find ways to keep up--and successfully compete with--WM's pricing model. Today WM is not always the lowest price on many items and their like-store sales aren't in a zenith mode.

If the economy gets better--if, if and if--some customers will return to more congenial retail habitats, and that could raise concerns in Bentonville. But ol' WM still has a lock on the "price" image and that is today's greatest drawing card. All WM has to do is keep its price edge and work to improve its in-store experience, i.e, East is East and West is West, raising the question: Will the twain ever meet if future days allow for more discretionary spending?