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... :-)
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.