Nov 13

Wal-Mart shows how to do it

Business Add comments

image thumb80 Wal Mart shows how to do it 
Squeeze vendors. Lower prices. Bigger Profit. Repeat.

Higher 3Q profit by lowering prices. Awesome!

Of course, I hardly go there. Their parking lot has speed bumps and I never know what they will have in stock.

4 Responses to “Wal-Mart shows how to do it”

  1. Hannah Scott Says:
    November 13th, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    Any guess as to why they continue to do so well despite the current economic state? Based on other recently-released statistics on consumer retail spending, there’s strong evidence that Walmart is benefiting from our economic decline, in that there is an upward trend in Americans being forced to purchase bargain-priced items. I think if you were to review where the uptick in sales were for Walmart, you’d see that their higher end items — the few of them they have — remained stagnant, while the lower cost purchases shot up. So despite their continued dominance and commitment to outsourcing jobs to China, they’re still winning while we, the average American, continue to lose.

  2. Ken Says:
    November 13th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

    The main reason seems to be that as shoppers become price sensitive they go to the lowest price stores – like WalMart.

    I’m not familiar with their sales internals, but I think that their sales are up across the board in all categories.

    Dominance by satisfying customers is the good kind. I don’t buy into Walmart wins while American’s lose. The average American benefits greatly from Walmart. As does the average Chinese. Win & Win.

  3. Ken Says:
    November 13th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

    I forgot to add that even though Walmart is squeezing expenses pretty hard, I suspect the gloomy economy will catch up with them soon enough. They have actually revised the year estimates in light of the expected downturn.

  4. Kevin Nelson Says:
    November 13th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

    Where does Hannah shop for routine household goods like those sold at Walmart? Is there some other store I’m notaware of that doesn’t outsource and offers competetive prices? Forced to buy bargain-priced items? I’m happy to be able to buy bargain priced items.