chainstoreage.com
Bentonville, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores described a new style of business during the company’s analyst meeting. “Some of you see our size as a liability,” said John Menzer, who was recently named head of the U.S. stores division. “We can be nimble. And we will be different—very different—from the Wal-Mart you know.”
Some of those differences will be seen in the merchandising department, he said. “We’re going to take risks in merchandising,” he said. “We’re going to take risks in marketing. We're going to reach out to new consumers who are not fully shopping our stores.”
John Menzer sounds like he's making threats...however, these remarks indicate that Wal-Mart's management is getting nervous about its future. It's lonely at the top, and there may be nowhere for the company to go except downward.
ReplyDeleteI've conteneded for a while that Wal-Mart's peaked as a company. It's so big and uniform that it's going to be nearly impossible for progressive, innovative thought to come forward in the future.
ReplyDeleteI think part of it comes from their over-reliance on price and efficiency. Nobody wants to pay more than they have to, and innefficient companies don't survive, but there has to be a limit to how much that effects the store experience.
Target for example has found a balance that works, so has JCPenney. Both have great prices and an efficient backroom, but do so without marketing themselves so strongly on same.
Anything they do in the future that's upscale and innovative is going to put Wal-Mart under the microscope, and before they can get the bugs picked out, their customers and shareholders could turn on them, signalling disaster.
I hope I'm overstating this, but I think they may have a rough road ahead staying at the top of the retail game.
“We’re going to take risks in merchandising,” he said. “We’re going to take risks in marketing. "
ReplyDelete--Their so-called *risks* include copying any and all Target strategies their vendors can get their hands on...and yes they are going to tank. Let's just say that the pressure they put on their vendors to completely turn around and revamp their game in oh, say two weeks or less, is causing some serious inner-scuffles which are weakening the team spirit of all whom associate with them.
~Carrie
They're definately borrowing a page (or six) from the Target playbook, but they're not doing it very well.
ReplyDeleteThe latest Wal-Mart prototype has fake "hardwood" floors, beige walls and black and aluminum accents. The signage is good, the colors are good, but the execution is horrible.
The whole thing feels like a mockery of good taste, and I don't see them using it for long. To me, it felt very cheap and slightly Soviet in is dreariness.
If the vendors turn, that could get very ugly, very quickly.