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When a shopper enters a Walmart they have a fixed amount of money in their pocket and generally a good idea of what they want. You might get them to grab a cand
by mike_d 5y ago
When a shopper enters a Walmart they have a fixed amount of money in their pocket and generally a good idea of what they want. You might get them to grab a candy bar, or buy the next grade up of tires, but it is effectively shifting dollars that would have been spent there already. Revenue growth is all about adding more essential items to the store and eliminating trips to other retailers.
Amazon has much more discretionary budget to try and extract from their customers, so time on site is absolutely critical.
I'd say the two aren't even competitive at this point. Amazon will need many years to build out a robust vertically integrated grocery logistics network that reaches Walmart customers. A few Whole Foods in rich neighborhoods isn't going to cut it. On the other hand, Walmart will never figure out how to sell stuff online without losing money, and will probably kill itself trying to chase Amazon for some unknown reason.
- majormajor 5y ago> When a shopper enters a Walmart they have a fixed amount of money in their pocket and generally a good idea of what they want. You might get them to grab a candy bar, or buy the next grade up of tires, but it is effectively shifting dollars that would have been spent there already. Revenue growth is all about adding more essential items to the store and eliminating trips to other retailers. People with credit cards shop at Walmart too, and there's a significant amount of marketing effort done to convince people to get new items they weren't planning on while they're there. Plenty of people there can be sold new things without going into a "oh, this new toy for my kid on the aisle endcap looks nice, time to put away the dozen eggs because I only have X dollars allocated for this trip" same-net-spending reaction. (Anecdotally, my behavior is basicaly the opposite of what you describe: I got to Amazon when I already want a specific thing, and I find their browsing experience god-awful. I go to a physical store when I want to browse or shop without direction. Maybe I'll end up with a new shirt, or a book, or a video game, or a plant... maybe nothing...)
- robocat 5y ago> People with credit cards shop at Walmart too If people spend next months wages, that only temporarily increases sales. Long term I would expect that non-Walmart credit would decrease sales, since shopper’s income remains constant but they pay more on interest so less remaining for other goods.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoDespite tropes to the contrary being very popular around here, not everyone who shops at Walmart is living paycheck to paycheck.