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I just want to comment that Wal-Mart isn’t “playing catch-up” to Amazon, but simply plugging up holes in their business plan. Critics of Wal-Mart’s online comp

by mlacks 7y ago

I just want to comment that Wal-Mart isn’t “playing catch-up” to Amazon, but simply plugging up holes in their business plan. Critics of Wal-Mart’s online competency seem to forget that not only is Wal-Mart the largest company by revenue - on the planet - but Amazon doesn’t even crack the top 20. As far a business goes - an organization to provide value exchange - they are doing better than almost any other business in the world, depending on the metric you’re measuring with. [0] http://fortune.com/global500/ http://fortune.com/global500/

oblib 7y ago
Wal-Mart is not the same as it was 20 years ago. They didn't do "groceries" back then and they tended to source some products from local businesses when possible. They had a local feel and devoted customer base. Not so much now though. The "Super Wal-Mart" we have now is pretty boring, makes you walk across that entire giant store to get a quart of oil and a bag of chips, and then lets you choose between "Self-Checkout" or a really long line at the one or two cash registers they have open. In places where an Aldi's has opened up they've put a serious dent in those Super Wal-Marts, and Costco just blows them away. Wal-Mart will have to do a lot more very soon to maintain same store sales numbers as those two competitors fill in the gaps.
- jdsully 7y ago
  In mine they replaced the friendly greeters with stone faced security guards. The self checkouts also remind you that they're watching your every move with a dialog you must accept before paying.
  - jimmaswell 7y ago
    I assume this is based on local theft statistics. The one near where I grew up has receipt-checkers but the one near where I live now (nicer area) didn't have anything of the sort. Walked out after buying a bunch of big objects not in bags and nobody interrupted me.
    - jdsully 7y ago
      This is in one of the wealthier neighborhoods in the Greater Toronto Area. Its not known for its crime, and this particular Walmart used to be much nicer before what I'm guessing is a new manager took over. The security guards don't check your receipt or even talk to you. They just stare as you enter and leave. The old nice ladies they previously employed would always say Hello.
- pythonaut_16 7y ago
  Your second point is pretty disingenuous. Of course you have to walk across the entire store to get a quart of oil and a bag of chips. It's literally impossible to carry a variety of items in inventory without some items, mostly unrelated, being located far apart.
  - oblib 7y ago
    No, it's a valid observation. The new "Super Wal-Mart" is huge and has a ton of stuff I don't buy very often. We still have the original store in town, and many folks here prefer it. My wife and most her friends are among them, and I've given the reasons why here but change the products to what I buy. One of their most common complaints is they have to walk all the way to the back of the store to get a gallon of milk. That is one of the reasons those small "Dollar Stores" are being built everywhere around us. We have one now that's just a couple miles away and that's meant a lot less trips to town to the Wal-Marts for all of us. They also have real live cashiers working there.
- reaperducer 7y ago
  Wal-Mart is not the same as it was 20 years ago. They didn't do "groceries" back then and they tended to source some products from local businesses when possible. They had a local feel and devoted customer base. Not so much now though. A lot of people forget that Wal-Mart and Sam's Club used to be the place to go to for Made in the USA stuff. They had an entire ad campaign about it, and American flags all over everything. This was back when NAFTA was new and there was a lot of teeth-gnashing about factories just on the other side of the Mexican border taking American jobs†. Now China's factories have done to Mexico what Mexico did to American factories. (And IME, Africa is going to do to China what China did to Mexico.) † https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maquiladora https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maquiladora
endorphone 7y ago
Clearly they are playing catch-up -- Amazon is eating them alive through online ordering, and has a growth curve that is rightly extremely frightening for Walmart. Walmart is already operating by the skin of its teeth (a net margin pushing below 1%, while Amazon's has pushed past 4% and has been heading upwards) and Amazon threatens that more as people buy more and more of those "oh right" things through the online retailer. Culturally, though, Walmart has absolutely no chance. I recently purchased my first online order through Walmart as they had a product no one else in the country had. It came busted and spilled out in the bag. I emailed just to make them aware that this happened and the hostile, "PROVE IT" type response I got was so incredible compared to Amazon's facilitation of the customer. Walmart culturally will never have a "oh you didn't like it that's fine just stuff it in a box here's a label and a we've issued a full refund" response to anything.
- reaperducer 7y ago
  I emailed just to make them aware that this happened and the hostile, "PROVE IT" type response I got was so incredible compared to Amazon's facilitation of the customer. Wow. That's entirely the opposite experience I've had. Twice I've had problems with my Wal-Mart orders. Both times I filled out a form online, and within an hour someone very nice from Texas (both times — I inquired about their accents) called me on the phone to not only apologize, but to replace the item at no charge and refund the price of my original purchase. Amazon also gives exemplary customer service when things go wrong, but your Wal-Mart experience seems really out of left field. (I had an entire Easter dinner from Whole Foods sent to someone else's house and Amazon had another delivery at my door in a little over an hour, with a $20 credit. Interestingly, Amazon won't tell you which house an order was accidentally delivered to for privacy reasons, or I just would have knocked on a neighbor's door.)
  - WrtCdEvrydy 7y ago
    > an order was accidentally delivered to for privacy reasons Privacy reasons? Those guys aren't your customers... let me get my chicken nuggets, man!
- mastry 7y ago
reaperducer 7y ago
I just want to comment that Wal-Mart isn’t “playing catch-up” to Amazon Thanks for that thought. It made me look at the whole Amazon/Wal-Mart thing the other way around. With all of Amazon's new standalone bookstores and miniature grocery stores, it can be seen that Amazon is playing catching up to Wal-Mart. Honestly, I'm OK with both. Amazon for things like underpants, cat litter, and other stuff that isn't likely to be counterfeit. Wal-Mart for things that matter, like food, HABA, and the occasional last-minute flash card.
- whamlastxmas 7y ago
  Oddly underwear is massively counterfeit on Amazon, to the point I have to buy mine direct form manufacturer
sumedh 7y ago
> not only is Wal-Mart the largest company by revenue - on the planet - but Amazon doesn’t even crack the top 20. Nokia and RIM were the biggest players in phone market in terms of revenue once, just because you are leader now does not mean you will be a leader in the future.

by mlacks 7y ago

oblib 7y ago

Wal-Mart is not the same as it was 20 years ago. They didn't do "groceries" back then and they tended to source some products from local businesses when possible. They had a local feel and devoted customer base. Not so much now though. The "Super Wal-Mart" we have now is pretty boring, makes you walk across that entire giant store to get a quart of oil and a bag of chips, and then lets you choose between "Self-Checkout" or a really long line at the one or two cash registers they have open. In places where an Aldi's has opened up they've put a serious dent in those Super Wal-Marts, and Costco just blows them away. Wal-Mart will have to do a lot more very soon to maintain same store sales numbers as those two competitors fill in the gaps.

jdsully 7y ago
In mine they replaced the friendly greeters with stone faced security guards. The self checkouts also remind you that they're watching your every move with a dialog you must accept before paying.
- jimmaswell 7y ago
  I assume this is based on local theft statistics. The one near where I grew up has receipt-checkers but the one near where I live now (nicer area) didn't have anything of the sort. Walked out after buying a bunch of big objects not in bags and nobody interrupted me.
  - jdsully 7y ago
    This is in one of the wealthier neighborhoods in the Greater Toronto Area. Its not known for its crime, and this particular Walmart used to be much nicer before what I'm guessing is a new manager took over. The security guards don't check your receipt or even talk to you. They just stare as you enter and leave. The old nice ladies they previously employed would always say Hello.
pythonaut_16 7y ago
Your second point is pretty disingenuous. Of course you have to walk across the entire store to get a quart of oil and a bag of chips. It's literally impossible to carry a variety of items in inventory without some items, mostly unrelated, being located far apart.
- oblib 7y ago
  No, it's a valid observation. The new "Super Wal-Mart" is huge and has a ton of stuff I don't buy very often. We still have the original store in town, and many folks here prefer it. My wife and most her friends are among them, and I've given the reasons why here but change the products to what I buy. One of their most common complaints is they have to walk all the way to the back of the store to get a gallon of milk. That is one of the reasons those small "Dollar Stores" are being built everywhere around us. We have one now that's just a couple miles away and that's meant a lot less trips to town to the Wal-Marts for all of us. They also have real live cashiers working there.
reaperducer 7y ago
Wal-Mart is not the same as it was 20 years ago. They didn't do "groceries" back then and they tended to source some products from local businesses when possible. They had a local feel and devoted customer base. Not so much now though. A lot of people forget that Wal-Mart and Sam's Club used to be the place to go to for Made in the USA stuff. They had an entire ad campaign about it, and American flags all over everything. This was back when NAFTA was new and there was a lot of teeth-gnashing about factories just on the other side of the Mexican border taking American jobs†. Now China's factories have done to Mexico what Mexico did to American factories. (And IME, Africa is going to do to China what China did to Mexico.) † https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maquiladora https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maquiladora

endorphone 7y ago

Clearly they are playing catch-up -- Amazon is eating them alive through online ordering, and has a growth curve that is rightly extremely frightening for Walmart. Walmart is already operating by the skin of its teeth (a net margin pushing below 1%, while Amazon's has pushed past 4% and has been heading upwards) and Amazon threatens that more as people buy more and more of those "oh right" things through the online retailer. Culturally, though, Walmart has absolutely no chance. I recently purchased my first online order through Walmart as they had a product no one else in the country had. It came busted and spilled out in the bag. I emailed just to make them aware that this happened and the hostile, "PROVE IT" type response I got was so incredible compared to Amazon's facilitation of the customer. Walmart culturally will never have a "oh you didn't like it that's fine just stuff it in a box here's a label and a we've issued a full refund" response to anything.

reaperducer 7y ago
I emailed just to make them aware that this happened and the hostile, "PROVE IT" type response I got was so incredible compared to Amazon's facilitation of the customer. Wow. That's entirely the opposite experience I've had. Twice I've had problems with my Wal-Mart orders. Both times I filled out a form online, and within an hour someone very nice from Texas (both times — I inquired about their accents) called me on the phone to not only apologize, but to replace the item at no charge and refund the price of my original purchase. Amazon also gives exemplary customer service when things go wrong, but your Wal-Mart experience seems really out of left field. (I had an entire Easter dinner from Whole Foods sent to someone else's house and Amazon had another delivery at my door in a little over an hour, with a $20 credit. Interestingly, Amazon won't tell you which house an order was accidentally delivered to for privacy reasons, or I just would have knocked on a neighbor's door.)
- WrtCdEvrydy 7y ago
  > an order was accidentally delivered to for privacy reasons Privacy reasons? Those guys aren't your customers... let me get my chicken nuggets, man!
mastry 7y ago

reaperducer 7y ago

I just want to comment that Wal-Mart isn’t “playing catch-up” to Amazon Thanks for that thought. It made me look at the whole Amazon/Wal-Mart thing the other way around. With all of Amazon's new standalone bookstores and miniature grocery stores, it can be seen that Amazon is playing catching up to Wal-Mart. Honestly, I'm OK with both. Amazon for things like underpants, cat litter, and other stuff that isn't likely to be counterfeit. Wal-Mart for things that matter, like food, HABA, and the occasional last-minute flash card.

whamlastxmas 7y ago
Oddly underwear is massively counterfeit on Amazon, to the point I have to buy mine direct form manufacturer

sumedh 7y ago

> not only is Wal-Mart the largest company by revenue - on the planet - but Amazon doesn’t even crack the top 20. Nokia and RIM were the biggest players in phone market in terms of revenue once, just because you are leader now does not mean you will be a leader in the future.