Posted on 02/16/2010 10:01:48 AM PST by Star Traveler
Published by diamondpoet
December 4, 2009
What is Walmart really up to.
Walmart is one of the biggest supermarket chains in the world. As of August 31, 2008, Walmart has as many as 100 food categories:
United States 4,227 total units.
International 3,210 total units
This is a time where families needs to make every penny count, Walmart expansion of it’s Great Value brand is replacing many of the name brands, we have used for so many years.
The new improved Great Value products — which has been appearing on shelves and various sections of the store, is slowly being integrated into Walmart stores across the country, within the past few months – will provide families with affordable and possible high quality groceries. This is some sales jargon that Walmart has come up with, but what is really going on?
Walmart is the company, that is famous for their roll-back slogan, and now it would seem that they are also trying to monopolize the food industry. I am all for savings, but I prefer quality products and good taste. I grew up with many of the brand names and it is what I am accustomed to.
There are a few thing that I could settle for, that is not name brand, but when I was shopping during the Thanksgiving holiday, I was looking for McCormick’s vanilla, this is the only brand that I use to make my pies. I discovered that Walmart had completely removed McCormick’s brand and replaced it with their own brand Great Value. I rely on McCormick’s products to prepare many of my meals.
I tried using substitutes, but there is no comparison to McCormick’s Seasonings. I have never shopped anywhere other than Walmart, because I was comfortable and they basically provided most of my needs.
It would now see that I am being forces to shop somewhere else. Walmart no longer stock all the brand names that I desire. Since Walmart is trying to completely eliminate the middle-man, what type of effect will this have on many of the distributors and will this also have a spiraling effect on the economy as well?
Since so many distributors rely on Walmart’s business, will they not suffer and be forced to downsize? I can’t help but wonder is this really going to benefits the consumers or hurt us even more?
.
I meant generic cereals often taste like cardboard
Even the “fancier” milled or cut Quaker Oats is lousy compared to the original Quaker Oats
Sort of like the “New COKE” that bombed out
[taste like cardboard]
Lol. Well it was easy to get confused because they did find some cardboard in some of our food, remember?
Who knows what they’ll tell us we have been eating next week!
Who are they? The competitors?
Where I am you either shop Hannafords, Shaws, the local general store (highest prices but convenient) or Wal Mart. In the city, will be Whole Foods (upscale prices but uses local growers, dairy etc) and like Green type grocers (high end, specialty).
Sam's Club, same family (yes I know some have or are closing) for bulk--where you have to pay a membership fee to shop. Where the general stores often buy their goods to resell.
Wal Mart is a lifestyle, as I mentioned. Name another like store that books weddings!!Shoppers go where their friends go, it's a social experience. Travel trailers park overnight in the parking lots...aka Camp Wal Mart.
Wait..I must add one larger general store where you can buy shot guns on the first floor (where the food is)
and wedding dresses on the second.
Good meat department. Gas Pumps. Always busy.
.
I’d rather have a little of good top quality tasty food than a truckload of food that is crummy
Did you know the 5 minute Quaker Oats benefits the heart while the quick minute Quaker Oats does nothing. I like the organic Irish Oatmeal 5 minute. The 30 minute Irish is best. but I can't wait that long.
I don't do boxed cereals as high in carbs, and it now all tastes like cardboard to me. Went on a low carb diet once and totally lost the taste for cereal that I formerly had eaten even as a snack. Odd, but am not complaining!!
Just do 5 minute oatmeal now.
Who are they? The competitors?
I say "competitors" because people in different places are going to have different competitors... :-)
So, for my area, it would be Food Pyramid, Reasors, Braums, Whole Foods, Warehouse Market -- and I've used them all. And, of course, I'm talking about food.
When it comes to other items that Walmart has, I go to a whole selection of different places depending on the products. I was mainly talking about food here. I don't really shop Walmart for anything else... because there are a lot of other retailers who are a whole lot better than Walmart for the other products that they have.
I’d rather have a little of good top quality tasty food than a truckload of food that is crummy
I've found some really tasty foods at Whole Foods. They're great... :-)
.
Add lots of blueberries
My Doc sez 1 aspirin and lots and lots of blueberries
On pancakes - COMPLETE with milk and eggs added - lotsa frozen booberries on poured pancake - not IN THE MIX
Make/eat less pancakes - milk and eggs give you protein - reduce portions eaten
5 minute grits added after nuking 4 minutes to 2 parts COMPLETE mix - add a touch of Bicarb and a teaspon of Baking Powder
Let you mix sit 5-10 minutes before pouring it in pan or on griddle
Texture, flavor, a big hit here - better than IHOP or any restaurant or diner
Canola oil and a pat of butter in pan or on griddle
Butter and heated/neked syrup on plate - Serve the 2 min. nuked booberries and booberry syrup on top your ONE ONLY pancake
But you need to do it until you get it right
Anti-Oxidents you will truly enjoy
Dessert for breakfast!
Hazelnut coffee to wash it down
(cheat and try adding some lemon juice and a little melted butter after mixing in milk and eggs to your pancake mix)
Do not put too much heat under your pan or griddle
Whoever thinks Wal-mart is that dumb has alot to learn. They are smart to place more of the alternative Great Value products on their shelves but I promise you they will still offer numerous name brands. They didnt become the wealthiest retailers in the world for being “stoopid”
There are many union people that would love to see Wal-mart fail but they will have a long wait
Sounds like you into eating healthy.
Here’s a tip I learned years ago: When making tuna salad or chicken salad you can add regular old dried oatmeal. You’ll never taste it and adds lots of fiber to your diet.
I keep an extra box of oatmeal with our stored food. It stores well and when the SHTF or if there is an ice storm/hurricane it can be added to lots of different foods.
Whoever thinks Wal-mart is that dumb has alot to learn. They are smart to place more of the alternative Great Value products on their shelves but I promise you they will still offer numerous name brands.
They are that dumb in marketing... when they discontinue name-brands that people have been buying there. All that does is make those particular Walmart customers go to a competitor of Walmart.
That's what has happened with me, personaly. That's what has happened with that lady in the article. And more of the discontinuing of name-brands are going to be happening, according to another article that I posted in this thread.
So, that's dumb marketing -- because Walmart's competitors are offering their "off-brand labels" alongside of the same type of name-brand ones.
Just for an example, and using me, I had been shopping at Walmart pretty exclusively (for groceries) for a while (maybe a couple of years). Now, in Oregon, they weren't much of a factor. They were more so in Texas, where I was for a while, too. My dad liked Walmart and although I had not before in Oregon (as there were better choices there), I went with my dad there.
But, here in Tulsa, they seemed like a good choice for groceries and I ended up finding pretty much all that I wanted for everyone here, at Walmart (between their Super Center and the Neighborhood one, as I would go back and forth between the two).
However, I started noticing some problems, and whereas before I was doing all the grocery shopping there, between the two stores, I started to have to go to Walmart's competitors, because things would turn up missing. I gave the example of those kitchen garbage bags, up above. So, basically Walmart "forced me out of their store and into the hands of their competitors" -- because they discontinued a name-brand product that they had been selling all along before.
And it's happening with other name-brand products, too. So, now, I've found some other interesting and good stores. I listed them in another post up above, too, for this area.
Therefore, those dollars that Walmart had been getting from me in the past, a good portion of those dollars are now going to competitors of Walmart.
Now..., you may think that this (what I just described and my dollars now going to competitors) is "good marketing" and that Walmart is very smart for sending my dollars that I was spending with them -- to their competitors now.
But, I call that dumb, stupid and idiotic marketing on behalf of Walmart.
As for me, maybe it was a blessing that Walmart did that for me... so that I would see the good things at Walmart's competitors. And I can't say that I'm disappointed in Walmart's competitors, so perhaps I owe Walmart a "thanks" for helping me go see what their competitors have in their stores... :-)
What a bunch of whiny babies. If you don't like WalMart, shop elsewhere. If you think you can do better, open your own damned store.
What a bunch of whiny babies. If you don't like WalMart, shop elsewhere. If you think you can do better, open your own damned store.
Well..., you'll note that I personally said about myself, that I think Walmart did me a favor, by pushing me out of their store and getting me to spend some of that money that I had been spending with Walmart -- and spending it with Walmart's competitors instead.
So, just looking at it from my own personal standpoint -- no... it was a nice thing that Walmart did by sending me to their competitors... I'm not at all complaining about that.
In the process of having to go to Walmart's competitors, I've actually found some good items to spend my money on, besides spending my money on the items that Walmart discontinued (those certain name-brand items that they won't carry because they have their own "off-brand" instead).
Don't get me or others wrong in thinking that it's a big problem for us, because it's not. It's something nice, actually.
That's not the problem that is being discussed. The "actual problem" is something that one sees from "Walmart's own standpoint" -- in that they've made a really stupid and idiotic marketing mistake, by sending money in their customer's hands -- over to spend at a competitor to Walmart.
Now, that's the stupid thing that Walmart is doing... LOL...
“Now, that’s the stupid thing that Walmart is doing.”
I seriously doubt that WalMart has lost a significant portion of their business by putting more generic stuff on their shelves. I see this article as an example of WalMart haters hoping that WalMart has made a mistake.
Like every other big box store, WalMart will eventually be replaced by another big box store. So far, they have lasted longer than any previous version (unless you consider K-Mart to still be a viable business).
They are dumb because they assume most Wal*Mart shoppers will embrace cheaply made substitutes over the quality of the real thing just to save a dime.
If I wanted cheap imitations I'd do more shopping at the Dollar Tree.
I seriously doubt that WalMart has lost a significant portion of their business by putting more generic stuff on their shelves. I see this article as an example of WalMart haters hoping that WalMart has made a mistake.
That's not the problem... though... LOL...
You didn't see that mentioned as the problem, although you seem to perceive the issue as "that" being the problem.
Let me clarify it for you. :-)
First of all, you'll note that I've mentioned other major chains and big retail grocery store outlets all have "off-brand" products on their shelves. And that's fine (as has been said many times).
Heck! If that was the "problem" -- you would have to leave all grocery stores and never shop at one again... LOL... So, obviously that's not the problem.
SO..., what is the problem, from the standpoint of "marketing" at Walmart?? ... (pause here, to think a minute, and let's see if it can "soak in"...) ...
Okay, enough time...
Here's the problem, from the standpoint of marketing from Walmart's side of things.
It's that they've got customers who have been spending their money on certain name-brand items, that Walmart used to have sitting side-by-side, with their "off-brand" labels -- just like all the other stores do... and we haven't gotten to the problem yet... (just a hint here... :-) ...).
BUT -- what Walmart did that you won't find all the other big chains and big retail grocery stores doing -- is -- that Walmart decided for certain name-brand items, to discontinue the name-brand item and keep only their own "off-brand" item... Bingo! now we've got the problem.
Note here... the problem is not the existence of their own "off-brand" label.
So, what happens with those customers who had "money in their hand" to spend at Walmart, to buy those certain name-brand items that Walmart has discontinued in place of having only their own "off-brand" label. Well..., that money that would have been spent at Walmart is now driven out of the Walmart store, and driven over into a competitor of Walmart's hands and is spent there.
Now, Walmart doesn't have that money as it once did before, but a competitor to Walmart now has that money in their cash register. So, what Walmart has done is put money from their own customers into the hands of competitors of Walmart.
But, it goes further than that. What Walmart also has done is given "opportunity" that wasn't there before -- to those customers who are now walking around in the competitor's store, and they will find the opportunity to "pick up a few other things" -- things that would have been spent at Walmart before -- but that customer is not standing in Walmart, but they are standing in the other store.
So, it's a two-fold problem for Walmart.
And, I've already found out that this is exactly what happens, because it has happened with me, on both of those scenarios, and it keeps happneing every week with me.
Walmart used to have me around all the time for those groceries. And now Walmart has me around only "part of the time" now, while I spend the other part of the time -- and also part of the money Walmart used to get -- at the competitor to Walmart.
Thus, this has to be one of the stupidest and most idiotic moves that Walmart has ever made... LOL... from the marketing standpoint and getting/keeping people in their stores.
Well they’re losing me. I won’t buy their house brand products because my experiences with them have all been negative. So if they don’t have stuff other than their house brand I’m not buying, once there are enough things there that I know I can’t get I’ll stop going to all.
They are dumb because they assume most Wal*Mart shoppers will embrace cheaply made substitutes over the quality of the real thing just to save a dime.
You're right...
And it's not that those shoppers who do want the name-brand items -- don't shop at Walmart... no..., these people do shop at Walmart, because in the past, Walmart did have those name-brand items right there on the shelf too.
So, whether you bought that name-brand item at the store down the street or at Walmart, since both places had that item -- that customer could keep shopping at Walmart and not compromise what they really wanted to buy...
BUT... once Walmart discontinued those certain and selected name-brand items -- that particular customer who was always buying that name-brand item at Walmart -- now is forced out of Walmart and into the competitor of Walmart's hands to spend the money there.
And although that particular customer may still wander into Walmart and still buy a few items -- the competitor is also now "picking off" Walmart's former sales from that customers.
That's money out of Walmart's hands and directly into the hands of the competitor of Walmart.
And, as you say, Walmart is dumb (and stupid and idiotic) for thinking that way...
“
Walmarts Replace Brand Name Food with Their Brand “Great Value”
“
Well, I can report the “replace” is not happening here in Colubmia, MO
WalMarts. The WalMart “Great Value” brands are ALTERNATIVES placed on
the shelf next to the standard “brand name” food products.
IIRC, Jim Cramer on CNBC has highlighted the company making them
(IIRC it’s a company named “Treehouse”); and said it might be a
good investment as it makes fairly good version of the brand name
products at reduced price.
Now maybe other WalMarts are actually “replacing” the brand name products...
maybe WalMart just places them as alternatives in Columbia MO
WalMarts as some of the extended WalMart/Walton family live in this city.
Well they’re losing me. I won’t buy their house brand products because my experiences with them have all been negative. So if they don’t have stuff other than their house brand I’m not buying, once there are enough things there that I know I can’t get I’ll stop going to all.
This will be true for quite a few of Walmart's customers.
And another scenario is also true for part of Walmart's customers, which is my situation, right now.
Whereas Walmart was getting all the monthly money on the grocery stuff... now Walmart is only getting a "portion" of that money from me, that they got before, every month. I'm now splitting it up with Walmart's competitors. And that's thanks to Walmart discontinuing some of those name-brand items and also partly because Walmart has had some problems keeping things in stock, too, sometimes with things being empty for weeks at a time (not across the board with all their items, but with only some items that I've wanted).
So, Walmart will be seeing customers like you -- just leaving... and Walmart will be seeing customers like me -- partially leaving and Walmart only getting a fraction of the money they got before.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.