Posted on 04/24/2011 12:48:46 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Seeking to reverse seven straight quarters of same-store-sales declines at its U.S. namesake chain, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Monday that it’s expanding the number of items on its shelves, launching TV advertising and working with its suppliers to lower costs.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant, which was hurt by a previous strategy to narrow its product assortment, said it’s adding about 8,500 items, or 11 percent, to an average store.
Fishing supplies, crafts and fabric are among items being added back to store shelves, Walmart U.S. Chief Merchandising Officer Duncan Mac Naughton told reporters, adding that the company is tailoring some merchandise to local demand, such as selling ice-fishing tools in markets such as Minnesota.
To make room for more items, Walmart U.S. is raising the height of its shelves and bringing back what it calls “action alleys” – or products in the center of busy aisles – which the company said has boosted comparable sales. Previously, the retailer had embarked on a remodeling campaign to lower shelf heights and de-clutter its aisles to make its stores more appealing to higher-income shoppers.
The company is now pitching its stores as a one-stop shop at a time when its low-income shoppers are facing rising prices for gasoline, food and possibly apparel, analysts said.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart has lost traction to its rival Target Corp. and to dollar-store chains such as Dollar General Corp. and Family Dollar Stores Inc., the analysts said.
Wal-Mart also is refocusing on its everyday low-price strategy after a previous move to cut prices temporarily on some items didn’t fare as well as expected.
As part of the low-price moves, the retailer said its store managers and product buyers will check on competitors’ prices more often. It also said it will match a lower advertised price even if customers don’t bring in a competitor’s advertisement, and it is training employees to make sure the simplified policy is implemented consistently across all stores.
Workers, for instance, engage in role-playing and watch videos as part of their training to better assist customers, Mac Naughton told MarketWatch.
Walmart U.S. is launching a national TV campaign to tout its ad-match guarantee and will install in-store signs nationwide in May. Products that have returned to shelves will be placed next to signs that read, “It’s back.”
About 80 percent of products such as pasta, beverages and snacks have been added to its dry grocery aisles, and that will continue, the company said. In the next few months, the company plans to add to its fresh grocery and consumables aisles, including such items as paper towels, toilet paper and laundry detergent.
General-merchandise categories such as electronics, sporting goods, apparel, fabrics/crafts and outdoor living will expand later this year, Wal-Mart said.
In March, Bill Simon, president and chief executive of the company’s biggest sales division, said he’s seen “an improving trend in business.”
I am hoping to get my own scooter. Then I will be free to shop wherever I like and am willing to carry/load a scooter. What brand of scooter do you have?
What has amazed me is the ‘foreign’ foods of ethnic origins that now fill their shelves.
http://www.pridemobility.com/scooters/gogoelitetraveller.asp
I just do not understand why WalMart is so stingy in keeping their checkout lanes open. Don't they realize they are losing many sales? People like me who walk out. And people who will not even go to shop there anymore, because they know the checkout lines will be horrendous. The costs of putting extra help on the clock to open more lanes would be easily recovered by the increased sales.
Give me my local Kroger and Publix stores.
WalMart, I hardly know you anymore!
Well, could be that Walmart has greased some palms on the left to keep the unions off their back. However, I think that the left/unions well understand that any attempt to unionize will be resisted by Walmart with the utmost vigor and that if it should come down to it, Walmart would close up the store(s) and walk away from them rather than accepting a union presence. About the foreign foods on their shelves, just look at the demographic that shops there and you'll have your answer. Actually, you see this sort of ethnic accommodation in many stores now. The two grocery stores that I shop in each have an international section. The times, they are a changing...
Thanks, I’m going there now.
It won’t go everywhere I’d like it too but it handles grassy fields if the ground is firm. If you’re going to use it in tight places the 3 wheel is more maneuverable but it’s not as stable. There is a weight difference but not much.
Aldi’s is a great store to shop...I didn’t go there until this year when a new one came into the community. Was pleasantly surprised with the prices and the fresh fruit and veggies made the super markets look bad!
Only complaint is I don’t like their coffee or cheese....pretty nasty!
It is very expensive!
Here is and article about the product (6mo. selflife):
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-16062593.html
Link to some pricing:
http://www.thefind.com/food/browse-parmalat-milk
Thanks for the info —
Looks like I’m back to ‘plan-A’ — save up the $120-130 to bite the bullet and order a case of KLIM online....
Every time the people from Bentonville visited a store things started disappearing from the shelves. But besides the CD bringing back cables for computers, MP3's and speakers would be nice also. They took almost all off the shelves and went to one very ridiculous high dollar choice.
Oh yea a couple more things. They can stop the unisex clothing department {throwing it all together} a recent stupid idea they started and straighten out the shoe department again as well which they also made unisex recently. By that I mean they starting lumping it all together on the same blasted aisle and you have to sort out which was which. Put a little bit of seperation back into the shelves and aisles so a person doesn't have to guess what is for who. They managed to do as much the entire history of Wally World till recently.
You should be able to find milk in the ultra-pasteurized “cube” pacages at wal mart. Skim, 2%, and whole is usually available. I buy it by the quart just to keep on hand.
The easiest thing Walmart can do to increase sales is simply to keep in stock those items that they already carry. My local Walmart, and I assume the rest, subscribe to the bean-counter nonsense of inventory “velocity”, namely keep inventory thin. As a result, our shelves are half empty half of the time. And I’m talking about basic goods like grape juice and such being out of stock all the time. It’s extremely frustrating.
There’s lot of stores that do that, including those fools that run Home Depot and Petsmart. And then I’m sure they’re always wondering why they can’t increase same-store-sales.
Well, I’ll be happy to tell them why:
IT’S BECAUSE YOU WON’T KEEP YOU DAMN SHELVES STOCKED! PEOPLE CAN’T BUY IT IF IT AIN’T IN THE DAMN STORE!
Amen...once a year or so; I will slum it and head into Wal-Mart...looking for one item that I happen to need. No matter what the item; they are ALWAYS out.
Hey, guys...I don’t see a ring. :-)
Target’s return policy sucks.
I refuse to shop there anymore after getting burned on a couple purchases that I wanted to return.
There are plenty of other stores which value their customers more than their $$$$’s that I can shop at and get equal, if not better, quality.
I tried to tell all this to a California Freeper {I can't recall the name but he claimed to be a plumber or owns a plumbing company} who thinks the sun rises and sets on Walmart Corp. He thinks they keep unions out and deny him a Super Store. Between this and the rest of the article it proves straight from the corps mouth itself what I told the Freeper was accurate LOL.
I hope the new CEO turns back the damage and goes back to some of the older policies that made Walmart to start with.
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