The Top Five Things You Can Learn From Wal-Mart
2) Measure, measure, measure. There are few people, organizations, or businesses on earth that measure their progress as closely as Wal-Mart. No company gives more data to its suppliers or works more closely with them to find ways to reduce the cost of its products. Wal-Mart can not only tell you how well every product is selling in every store across the world, it can tell you in detail how well it’s doing PER SQUARE FOOT of shelf space.
The reason this is relevant is because if you want to change or improve anything in your life, the first step is to figure out a way to measure it. Want to save more money? Chart what you’re spending. Want to improve your bench press? Write down your sets and reps. Want to make better use of your time? Chart how you’re spending it for a few days. Want to be nicer to your wife? Put together a checklist and note it every time you say something rude, she gets mad, or you compliment her. If you chart it, then you can begin to take steps to measurably improve it.
Their selection is broad, but not very deep. People come in at 3 a.m. asking for the oddest things. I’d have to point folks at more specialist-type stores quite a bit. (worked in a local wallymart as a nightstalker, er, stocker,
) I do try to make a point of shopping elsewhere when possible just to keep them honest. Competition is good.
Yeah, but the mom-and-pop general stores people feel nostalgic about usually had an even shallower selection…they had space for pots, needles, pillows, shovels, canned peas, underpants, and motor oil, but seldom enough space for six different brands and certainly not space for uncommon variations. I grew up in a small rural town, the hardware store had everyday housewares and “fancy” kitchenware could be purchased in the small department stores in the county seat, but when WalMart came into the county seat when I was 15 the ladies at church were all “Have you seen all the different kinds of spatulas they have there?!”
Now, 20 years later, with the internets and Food Network and specialty cooking shops we recognize that WalMart only carries a few styles of a few cheap brands of spatula, but back then it was pretty heady.
The BEST pictures of my kids are from Wal-Mart. and that’s after touring high-end photo studios. Do they treat you well? The last photographer was having a whole career out of Wal-mart. She was amazing. Before that, one Sears had a photography major in school, who did great pictures. Moms would stalk her from store to store. Sears didn’t realize-requesting a photographer by name??-that’s good, she’s building a business- not creepy.
Is it the practice, day in and day out? Lots and lots of practice with the same sets, like doing scales on the piano?
Really great photos.
Clearly the author of this article never really worked for Wal-Mart. Most of the additions like nail salons, subways, portrait studios, tax preparation are not affiliated with directly, they are tenants. Those that pay a lease to the company. The store doesn’t see any of the profits and see less than 10% revenue from the gas stations. And at the sacrifice of their associates, these “low prices” do not translate to a better working environment for these people. The turnover rates in most Wal-Marts would surprise you. So for the the customer, it can be a budget conscious shopping experience, but from a customer service standpoint the company has a lot to learn. And if you really know you’re Wal-Mart history, you know that a big part of their marketing campaign for many years was “made in the USA”. All of this went to wayside when Sam Walton died. I have worked at Wal-Mart as a manager and have a parent that has been with the company for over 20 years. So anyone can read a book and recycle the information in an article, but I’ll be an individual that makes my own way. Because people make the business, not the prices.
“..these “low prices” do not translate to a better working environment for these people”.
Couldn’t they improve their working environs by leaving for greener pastures?
“Because people make the business, not the prices.”
Call me skeptical, but in retail it’s definitely about the prices.
Wal-Mart’s customer service IS lousy. But I also don’t go to WM when I need an experienced salesman to explain a product to me in detail or when I want an emoyee to provide ongoing support for a gizmo I bought. There are other stores for that.
My mother used to tell me: you can compete on price, selection, or service. CHOOSE TWO.
Great bunch of folks. They lease church owned property which means they don’t pay property tax. They only advertise nationally so there is no money paid to the local market. Not much for american brands either. Basically they’re all take with little give.
Ya know, if you were to furnish your house with strictly American made products instead of foreign made it would cost you less than $100 more.
Extreme claims require extreme proof. Got any?
I have tried, and it’s difficult to even FIND some types of things that are made in the U.S., let alone finding it at a reasonable price.
“Not much for american brands either.”
It is my feeling they keep Chinese manufacturing afloat and the American businesses that have taken it to them.
I personally feel those that have taken businesses to China are traitors
They are responsible for the loss of manufacturing in this country.
Washington gives them big tax breaks and applies no tariffs when they bring
it back into the country for WalMart and other of their ilk to sell
Only 2.5% of the goods and services sold in the USA last year were made in China. And for every dollar spend on ‘Chinese’ goods about $.60 of that stayed in the good ol’ USA.
Kind of kills your rhetoric, doesn’t it?
It doesn’t matter much where one shops these days; made in China is everywhere. Clothes at Macy’s, Ann Taylor, Saks; kitchen items at Williams & Sonoma, even at my local luxury kitchen store etc. and so forth. The more expensive specialty stores also carry items not made in China, but in Portugal, France, Japan, Malaysa, India and a very few in the USA. I try always to find made in the US but it is virtually impossible to find anything. Recently I purchased a very nice cherry vanity, made from American cherry but manufactured in China. When I asked about it the salesman explained that the American cherry is sent to China to work it and then shipped back to the US. I paid less for this vanity than I paid about 7 years ago for a maple vanity from Home Depot. As for WalMart, I don’t shop there a lot but when I do I am amazed at the grocery choices. We have many Asians in my area, so Walmart carries quite a few Indian items like special spices, packaged Indian meals in pouches and more. All kinds of rice and a huge selection of hispanic foods. So I am not complaining about Walmart, I can even find reasonably priced Swiss chocolate bars there.
The property owner (the church) is on the hook for the property taxes as a Walmart is not a church. Walmart cannot afford to get caught out, they are paying the church something for taxes whether the church is passing it on or not.
If you have proof otherwise, spit it out.
If they sold only “made in the USA” they would have to downsize their stores considerably. One or two employees could staff each site. Not a winning concept. Think about it.
If they sold only “made in the USA” they would have to downsize their stores considerably
(((((NODS)))))
It might force American businesses to bring it back here to manufacture
I think Mr. Hawkins was writing about a different company. This certainly isn’t the Walmart I know. He should have talked to vendors who do business with Walmart. The vendors would have given him an entirely different perspective on the company. For examples, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Walmart had an “unofficial” but very real practice of “losing” vendor invoices – then refusing the pay the invoices, even when duplicates were provided. This practice cost a Pepperidge Farm distributor some $120,000 in the San Leandro, CA Walmart. (Pepperidge Farm sells their routes – Pepperidge does not own them.) In that same store, Pepperidge paid Walmart $1,500 for the right to use an end display for a year. Walmart signed the contract and took the money. The Pepperidge distributor built the display on the fixture Pepperidge provided. The VERY NEXT DAY, the distributor came into the store and found his product OUTSIDE in shopping carts and the display space Walmart had signed a contract to provide to Pepperidge and had cashed the check – was given to someone else. The Pepperidge distributor confronted the Walmart manager about this and was told to take ALL of his product out of the store if he didn’t like it.
Walmart at the time was issuing handouts to employees on how to “game” the social welfare system to offset the lack of employee benefits.
I find nothing to admire about Walmart. I “vote with my feet” and shop anywhere but at Walmart.
in the San Francisco Bay Area, Walmart had an “unofficial” but very real practice of “losing” vendor invoices – then refusing the pay the invoices, even when duplicates were provided.
Why am I NOT surprised………???
The Walton family are also are the ones who managed to bamboozle Washington during Clinton administration into building them an airport
WE paid for it yet they alone reaped the harvest, along with Tyson Foods.
AND BTW, I don’t care how much $$$$ someone makes as long as they do not use MY tax $$$$$ and it looks to me like the US taxpayer came up on the short end of the stick in this little bit of magic.
I am proud that the nearest WalMart is 20+ miles in any direction.
To date we have been able to keep this $$$$$$$$ hungry giant out of our area.
Its even worse than what I was told by my Accounting professor – that Walmart would simply wait until day 59 to pay on receivables.
That’s common business practice. In fact any business that pays its invoices early is run by idiots.
Walmarts saving estimate may be understated. They also force their competitors to lower prices in order to stay in business.
Personally, I believe Walmart is the dominant reason inflation has stayed under control in the last 15 years or so. The governement would have preferred for inflation to be much higher. The Ruling Class loves taxation via inflation because it is so much easier than having to vote to pass a tax increase.
And think how much higher gas prices would be if people were forced to drive to multiple stores for clothing, auto parts, hardware, electronics, etc. instead of going to a “1-stop shop.” Gary North has an excellent article about price competition here.
For the record, WMT doesn’t always have the best prices or best selection. Their computer accessories section has shrunk big-time the last few years, at least at the local store. Nor could we find a 32″ LED HDTV there, which we got at Target for <$400 last month. Also, the new Aldi store just down the road often has lower food prices.
#6
No matter what it takes we will run every other company out of
business
#7
No matter how much wealth we accumulate it will never be enough for us
I have nothing against wealth but when it is bought at the price of
others and it is used to bulldoze a company’s way into a community where they
are not wanted e.g. in Alameda CA where the people did not want them, they took the city of Alameda to court.
THAT is arrogance in all its ugliness
BTW did I mention how China depends on WalMart to push its junk?
“I personally feel those that have taken businesses to China are traitors”
“BTW did I mention how China depends on WalMart to push its junk?”
So don’t shop there. I just left an industry that shipped all there manufacturing base to China in the late 90′s, along with all our competitors. To keep prices competitive and for a compnay to survive, they have to make the move or their dead. Private companies exist to provde goods and services people want in order to make a profit and give shareholders a return on their investment. It they don’t, they cease to exist.
“It might force American businesses to bring it back here to manufacture”
Force? Try incentives instead. Eg. Kill the unions, cap law suits, lower taxes, deregulate, etc…and they would.
I don’t want to sound like a bot here but I liked this article so much that I’ve copied it into word and edited it just a wee bit so it could apply to everyday life decision making situations. It’s one of the best and most compact “self help” guides I’ve seen in a while. Right to the point. I’ve given it to my 10 year old daughter to read and we’ve been talking about it quite a bit.
Thanks!
There’s more to building a successful company than having profits alone. If it were just a matter of profits, the Robber Barons of an earlier era would be held up as good examples to emulate. The Wal-Mart you see today is so far removed from the company that Sam built that I dare say he would barely recognize it. Sam had a lot of great quotes but the one that stayed with me was “If you treat your associates good, they will pass that on to the customer.” (Not an exact quote but close enough). That should have been their prime directive but they have strayed from it dramatically. Several years ago a memo was leaked that stated an intention to “eliminate” full-time workers in favor of part-time. First was the wage caps which dictated that no matter how long or how hard you worked, you wouldn’t see a raise. If you switched to a different job, you couldn’t go back as full-time. Several departments were merged so that a person was now responsible for two or three areas rather than one but still had to maintain them as if they were “one department.” “D” Days were handed out like candy and several long-time (full-time) workers were shown the door for things that wouldn’t even have been noticed before. Even disabled workers (if they were full-time), were pushed harder and if they couldn’t keep up.. Oh well… I left there a year ago after almost 10 years and haven’t walked into their door since. Next time you go in, look in the faces of the people who work there, or better yet, come in when the over-night crew is trying to work an entire grocery department with 2 or 3 employees when there should be a dozen or more.
There’s a right way to make a profit, and a wrong way to do it. Clearly this was not Sam’s way! Why do people stay? Many feel forced to stay because of the current job market and even though this H3LL with Florescent Lights is killing them, they need the paycheck.