7 ms·

> That Wal-Mart is powerful enough to dictate the internal business practice and tech decisions of it's vendor. Wal-Mart is pretty infamous for squeezing suppl

by eli 9y ago

> That Wal-Mart is powerful enough to dictate the internal business practice and tech decisions of it's vendor. Wal-Mart is pretty infamous for squeezing suppliers & vendors on price and operating procedures. Hard.

talmand 9y ago
I recall a story about one vendor deciding it would be more profitable to separate from Wal-Mart and take the declining sales hit versus the dictated profit margin. I believe it was a lawn mower company?
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  Snapper mowers. https://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart https://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart
  - ControlledBurn 9y ago
    Interesting read, though it would appear that's no longer the case: https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=Snapper&cat_id=5428_1102182_1225352_1218916 https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=Snapper&cat_id=5428_11...
    - KirinDave 9y ago
      Threads like this give me hope for this website. Thanks' to everyone for excellent morning reading.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - joezydeco 9y ago
      But what happens a lot of times is that the US company will produce a low-cost version in China and sell that exclusively in Wal-Mart. Not sure if this is the case with Snapper (article doesn't say), but that's typically how they get back into the stores.
joezydeco 9y ago
"It also is not unheard of for Wal-Mart to demand to examine the private financial records of a supplier, and to insist that its margins are too high and must be cut." https://www.fastcompany.com/47593/wal-mart-you-dont-know https://www.fastcompany.com/47593/wal-mart-you-dont-know
- mschuster91 9y ago
  Good grace, these "business practices" are nasty. Thanks for the read.
  - Analemma_ 9y ago
    Amazon does exactly the same thing though: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/02/17/cheap-words http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/02/17/cheap-words (focusing specifically on books, but they do it across all sectors)
    - mschuster91 9y ago
      When companies are able to do this, they should be broken up, period. Unfortunately we are in a system that's essentially the worst of capitalism with none of the good (and especially not with regulations), so there is no hope left and more jobs will migrate to China. That's what Trump should tackle if he wants to stop job migration, but it seems like he's focused on anything but regulating BigCos.
      - Kocrachon 9y ago
        Amazon has been forcing cheaper books back when it was mainly a book store. What do you do about something like that? Back when Barnes and Noble was the big book store, same thing, they pressured better prices. What do you do, split up the book store into two companies, who still control the same market share and will both still put pressure on the book companies? Last I read, Amazon mainly fights for cheaper kindle prices, because it's considerably cheaper to sell a 12 meg file than a 200 page physical book. Which I agree with publishers, only benefits Amazon and not entirely fair, but for the most part, not much ahs changed, most kindle copies are MAYBE a dollar less.

by eli 9y ago

talmand 9y ago

I recall a story about one vendor deciding it would be more profitable to separate from Wal-Mart and take the declining sales hit versus the dictated profit margin. I believe it was a lawn mower company?

toomuchtodo 9y ago
Snapper mowers. https://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart https://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart
- ControlledBurn 9y ago
  Interesting read, though it would appear that's no longer the case: https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=Snapper&cat_id=5428_1102182_1225352_1218916 https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=Snapper&cat_id=5428_11...
  - KirinDave 9y ago
    Threads like this give me hope for this website. Thanks' to everyone for excellent morning reading.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - joezydeco 9y ago
    But what happens a lot of times is that the US company will produce a low-cost version in China and sell that exclusively in Wal-Mart. Not sure if this is the case with Snapper (article doesn't say), but that's typically how they get back into the stores.

joezydeco 9y ago

"It also is not unheard of for Wal-Mart to demand to examine the private financial records of a supplier, and to insist that its margins are too high and must be cut." https://www.fastcompany.com/47593/wal-mart-you-dont-know https://www.fastcompany.com/47593/wal-mart-you-dont-know

mschuster91 9y ago
Good grace, these "business practices" are nasty. Thanks for the read.
- Analemma_ 9y ago
  Amazon does exactly the same thing though: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/02/17/cheap-words http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/02/17/cheap-words (focusing specifically on books, but they do it across all sectors)
  - mschuster91 9y ago
    When companies are able to do this, they should be broken up, period. Unfortunately we are in a system that's essentially the worst of capitalism with none of the good (and especially not with regulations), so there is no hope left and more jobs will migrate to China. That's what Trump should tackle if he wants to stop job migration, but it seems like he's focused on anything but regulating BigCos.
    - Kocrachon 9y ago
      Amazon has been forcing cheaper books back when it was mainly a book store. What do you do about something like that? Back when Barnes and Noble was the big book store, same thing, they pressured better prices. What do you do, split up the book store into two companies, who still control the same market share and will both still put pressure on the book companies? Last I read, Amazon mainly fights for cheaper kindle prices, because it's considerably cheaper to sell a 12 meg file than a 200 page physical book. Which I agree with publishers, only benefits Amazon and not entirely fair, but for the most part, not much ahs changed, most kindle copies are MAYBE a dollar less.