Walmart to Make Upscale Move

[darkswordsman17]

What they should do is take a page out of the automotive world's book. Instead of trying to make their stores classier, which I kinda think is gonna blow up in their face if they overdo it (will alienate their largest demographic, while won't be enough to attain the marke they're really looking for), they should open an entirely new chain. Make it an upscale place, maybe put it in malls and give it a different feel than Wal-Mart. Only sell nicer quality stuff and focus on customers more than prices.

So they could have Wal-Mart which would be like the Toyota or Nissan, and then their new stores would be like Lexus or Infinity.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: Rogue
I guess Target is taking their market away slowly but surely. Now if Target and Costco would merge they could effectively "take out" Wal-Mart in the market place casuing them to collapse. The time is right for this to happen.

There is no way Target and Costco combined could challenge Walmart. Walmart has far to much money and way to many stores.

i'd say target / costco could compete with walmart / sams club.

target has a bit more of an upscale image and doesn't have the hordes of people shopping there that walmart does, but targets do seem to do ok for total revenue.

 

[desteffy]

Still not going to shop there. Walmart sucks.

 

[Neos]

Originally posted by: CheapArse
Bah, fvck wally world

Bet you shop there - just like me.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: Rogue
I guess Target is taking their market away slowly but surely. Now if Target and Costco would merge they could effectively "take out" Wal-Mart in the market place casuing them to collapse. The time is right for this to happen.

There is no way Target and Costco combined could challenge Walmart. Walmart has far to much money and way to many stores.

i'd say target / costco could compete with walmart / sams club.

target has a bit more of an upscale image and doesn't have the hordes of people shopping there that walmart does, but targets do seem to do ok for total revenue.

I wouldn't call Target more "upscale" as I would "trendy." Most of their stuff is still cheap discount store crap... just like K-Mart and Wal-Mart. Target just markets it in a trendier way, and carries trendier, but equally crappy stuff.

 

[EatSpam]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
that and the fact that Costco is KICKING THEIR @SSES. I hate Sams Club and Walmart. it warms my heart that Costco and Target is beating them.

I have heard great things about CostCo, but there's none in my area.

Target, OTOH, is worse than Wallyworld. In fact, Target has less American-made products than Wal-mart. To add insult to injury, they have an "Asian-specialty" section. WTF is that when everything else in the store is also made in Asia.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: Rogue
I guess Target is taking their market away slowly but surely. Now if Target and Costco would merge they could effectively "take out" Wal-Mart in the market place casuing them to collapse. The time is right for this to happen.

There is no way Target and Costco combined could challenge Walmart. Walmart has far to much money and way to many stores.

i'd say target / costco could compete with walmart / sams club.

target has a bit more of an upscale image and doesn't have the hordes of people shopping there that walmart does, but targets do seem to do ok for total revenue.

I wouldn't call Target more "upscale" as I would "trendy." Most of their stuff is still cheap discount store crap... just like K-Mart and Wal-Mart. Target just markets it in a trendier way, and carries trendier, but equally crappy stuff.

i have often shopped and still shop at target for my kids clothes. call me cheap but i'm not going to spend money on polo for my kids when i know they will either outgrow it within a year or fall down, scape his/her knees and put a hole in it within a couple of weeks.

for that, target is a better deal than walmart, target clothes look better and i'm not that concerned about quality.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: Rogue
I guess Target is taking their market away slowly but surely. Now if Target and Costco would merge they could effectively "take out" Wal-Mart in the market place casuing them to collapse. The time is right for this to happen.

There is no way Target and Costco combined could challenge Walmart. Walmart has far to much money and way to many stores.

i'd say target / costco could compete with walmart / sams club.

target has a bit more of an upscale image and doesn't have the hordes of people shopping there that walmart does, but targets do seem to do ok for total revenue.

I wouldn't call Target more "upscale" as I would "trendy." Most of their stuff is still cheap discount store crap... just like K-Mart and Wal-Mart. Target just markets it in a trendier way, and carries trendier, but equally crappy stuff.

i have often shopped and still shop at target for my kids clothes. call me cheap but i'm not going to spend money on polo for my kids when i know they will either outgrow it within a year or fall down, scape his/her knees and put a hole in it within a couple of weeks.

for that, target is a better deal than walmart, target clothes look better and i'm not that concerned about quality.

Much of it is the same. And all the "store brands" are made in the same places.

And I don't blame you for buying discount clothes for kids.

 

[Freejack2]

Fancying up Walmart isn't going to get me into it. It's like putting a new coat of paint on a beater car. It may have a new paintjob but it's still dented and has all kinds of mechanical problems.

I'd rather shop at Target for my department store needs and Hannaford for my groceries. Usually Target isn't much more than Walmart and has on occasion even been cheaper than them. As for groceries I can always find what I want at Hannaford and the price difference is next to nothing. $100 at Hannaford is $98 at Walmart. I'd spend more in gas driving to Walmart than I'd save.

What's even sadder is they want to build another super walmart here. If they do it'll be 3 miles from a regular walmart and 6 from a super walmart. This area does not need another super walmart.
I could go for a super Target though. Too bad the closest one is 1000 miles away. 🙁

 

[mettleh3d]

too long

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: Rogue
I guess Target is taking their market away slowly but surely. Now if Target and Costco would merge they could effectively "take out" Wal-Mart in the market place casuing them to collapse. The time is right for this to happen.

There is no way Target and Costco combined could challenge Walmart. Walmart has far to much money and way to many stores.

i'd say target / costco could compete with walmart / sams club.

target has a bit more of an upscale image and doesn't have the hordes of people shopping there that walmart does, but targets do seem to do ok for total revenue.

I wouldn't call Target more "upscale" as I would "trendy." Most of their stuff is still cheap discount store crap... just like K-Mart and Wal-Mart. Target just markets it in a trendier way, and carries trendier, but equally crappy stuff.

i have often shopped and still shop at target for my kids clothes. call me cheap but i'm not going to spend money on polo for my kids when i know they will either outgrow it within a year or fall down, scape his/her knees and put a hole in it within a couple of weeks.

for that, target is a better deal than walmart, target clothes look better and i'm not that concerned about quality.

Much of it is the same. And all the "store brands" are made in the same places.

And I don't blame you for buying discount clothes for kids.

i wouldn't know, at walmart most of the time, you can't find anything because the racks are such a mess. at targets it's so much easier to find stuff. that alone makes enough of a difference so that i could care less if merchandise was a little less at walmart, i'll still buy from target. 😉

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold


i wouldn't know, at walmart most of the time, you can't find anything because the racks are such a mess. at targets it's so much easier to find stuff. that alone makes enough of a difference so that i could care less if merchandise was a little less at walmart, i'll still buy from target. 😉

You've just validated their plans. It's all in the marketing.

I buy many of my clothes at TJmaxx. A lot of people wont shop there because it's laid out horribly and hard to find stuff, plus it has a cheap image.

And yet, I find many of the same things they buy at half or less of the price they pay.

 

[ajpa123]

This sentence from the article made me chuckle:

After surveying its customers and concluding they were "starved for fashion," Wal-Mart has started to bring in more stylish merchandise

 

[MisterJackson]

An interesting Wal-Mart story from the other day:

I had three items and went to the "Mini sized" checkout areas that are usally designated as "Express 20/10 items or less" checkouts. However, I noticed that every cart, at every "Mini checkout" was filled to the brim.

I looked over to the sea of full size checkouts in the middle, and as usual, only three of the 25 lanes that they had were open, and the lines on those were three times as long as the one in front of me.

I thought everyone in front of me had gone mad and forgotten the 20/10 item limit rule that kept the express lane open for us swinging bachelors with our deoderant, beer, chips, and G & W pizza.

Then I noticed the expess lane 20/10 items or less signs were gone! Not only were they gone, they were now above the U scan registers immediately to my left.

So my dilemma was this. Stand in the line which used to be the express lane and say "Fvck you Walmart, I'm not doing the job of cashier for you!", or cave and give in to the mighty giant and their lack of concern for the consumer or their employees.

So I grabbed my proverbial rock and slingshot, then stared down the mutaded express lane as if it were Goliath himself. I would stand there all day if I had to. I knew it was hurting no one but myself, but it was the principle of the matter.

I watched the U scan area as hapless customer upon hapless customer scanned, bagged, and paid for their items. Sheep I called them. All I could hear was a mixture of bleets from the confused customer and scanner beeping indicating death blow after death blow to the Walmart cashier.

I finally arrived to the front of my line where the lady cashier grunted at me and bagged my items with as much compasion as a fanatical muslim for Miss America.

When I asked her if the change in lane schemes was now a permanent one I recieved a snort and "Well, what do you think?". This "lady", it seems, did not like me. Her being a smart@ss to me was a dead giveaway.

She then asked me if I had any other questions, to which I replied, "Yes, so when are they gonna fire you?". I then took my bags and left. The look on her face was priceless. Apparenty the thought has not occured to her, or most of Walmart's employees for that fact, that the very system they think makes their job easier, is in fact making their job obsolete.

I once tried a personal boycott of Walmart, and was unsuccessful. Walmart's always closer than the other stores to me, not to mention cheaper. On top of that I have a Sam's Club membership (aka Walmart in bulk).

So my new vow, is to again boycott Walmart, and start using BJ's wholesale club when my Sam's membership expires.

I know there's corperate evil whereever you go, but Walmart just sickens me now. It's not a once or twice kinda thing. It's an everytime I come out of there my blood pressure's a few points higher kinda thing. Between being packed in there with every other mindless consumer (to the point of actually not being able to move sometimes), and the crap they call customer service......well, I've had enough.

If I keep using them after this, then I have no one to blame but myself.

/rant

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: Acanthus
it still doesnt solve the problem with their "low cost operator" philosophy that leads them to low quality goods, understaffed stores, and poor worker pay and benefits.

That wasn't a problem, that was pure profit. The problem was the morons figuring it out. I should have sold the goddamn stock WAY earlier this year. Walmart has lost me 6,891.50 dollars since the middle of February. Of course, this was after massive profit, but that's how much they are down for me based on ownership of 770 shares. A good 20% drop. Damn, I might just sell it today, but I'm hoping for some type of spring to minimize losses before dropping it.

Nice loss for tax purposes if sold now, but that game sucks.

Edit: That mapquest is wrong, theyve built 2 new ones in the city itself since then.
There is nothing but doom and gloom on the sams club end of the compnay.

The idiots are overexpanding locally and starving out their own business, and cutting staff and costs at each store to cover the losses in sales from buidlilng new stores all over the city.

In a city of 150,000 people, we now have 8 walmarts and a sams club in the metropolitan area.

Now im no MBA, but if you have 6 walmarts and a sams club, then you build 2 new walmarts, and sales drop 7% (my store) WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK THE SALES ARE GOING?!

http://www.walmart.com/storeLocator/ca_...te=PA&sfsearch_zip=&continue=&x=41&y=8

I count four Walmarts in Erie.

Edit: That mapquest is wrong, theyve built 2 new ones in the city itself since then.

That just the city, we have 8 + a sams club in a 15 mile radius.

 

[FeuerFrei]

I think Wal-Mart is making a wise move. Otherwise they'll end up like K-Mart.


Speaking of Costco... one opened not long ago in Cincinnati and I was in the vicinity needing to kill 45 min or so before a doctor appointment nearby so I decided I would venture in and check out Costco. I'd never heard of the store before.

There was a large door open in the store front... a garage type door. Naturally I concluded this was the main entrance and so stepped right through.

I was only three steps over the threshold when a couple door greeters or whatever spoke up and halted me. They said "Sir, please exit and come back through the other door." I was shocked that they were ungrateful for my patronage and had the gall to ask me to enter through some other preferred door. Especially since I'd chosen to walk through the obvious entrance.

You don't garner goodwill of customers by making them jump through hoops. Especially for petty irrational reasons. I was extremely pissed but managed to restrain myself and said "Nevermind!" and stalked back to my car while they looked on flabbergasted.

Costco, you bastards. Never again.

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
I think Wal-Mart is making a wise move. Otherwise they'll end up like K-Mart.


Speaking of Costco... one opened not long ago in Cincinnati and I was in the vicinity needing to kill 45 min or so before a doctor appointment nearby so I decided I would venture in and check out Costco. I'd never heard of the store before.

There was a large door open in the store front... a garage type door. Naturally I concluded this was the main entrance and so stepped right through.

I was only three steps over the threshold when a couple door greeters or whatever spoke up and halted me. They said "Sir, please exit and come back through the other door." I was shocked that they were ungrateful for my patronage and had the gall to ask me to enter through some other preferred door. Especially since I'd chosen to walk through the obvious entrance.

You don't garner goodwill of customers by making them jump through hoops. Especially for petty irrational reasons. I was extremely pissed but managed to restrain myself and said "Nevermind!" and stalked back to my car while they looked on flabbergasted.

Costco, you bastards. Never again.

Why didn't you just keep walking?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
Speaking of Costco... one opened not long ago in Cincinnati and I was in the vicinity needing to kill 45 min or so before a doctor appointment nearby so I decided I would venture in and check out Costco. I'd never heard of the store before.

There was a large door open in the store front... a garage type door. Naturally I concluded this was the main entrance and so stepped right through.

I was only three steps over the threshold when a couple door greeters or whatever spoke up and halted me. They said "Sir, please exit and come back through the other door." I was shocked that they were ungrateful for my patronage and had the gall to ask me to enter through some other preferred door. Especially since I'd chosen to walk through the obvious entrance.

You don't garner goodwill of customers by making them jump through hoops. Especially for petty irrational reasons. I was extremely pissed but managed to restrain myself and said "Nevermind!" and stalked back to my car while they looked on flabbergasted.

Costco, you bastards. Never again.

Good for Costco. I'm sure they will be/are much more courteous at WalMart. :roll:

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
it still doesnt solve the problem with their "low cost operator" philosophy that leads them to low quality goods, understaffed stores, and poor worker pay and benefits.

To say nothing about the majority of their customers.

 

[Ikonomi]

Target FTW.

 

[imported_goku]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: Acanthus
it still doesnt solve the problem with their "low cost operator" philosophy that leads them to low quality goods, understaffed stores, and poor worker pay and benefits.

That wasn't a problem, that was pure profit. The problem was the morons figuring it out. I should have sold the goddamn stock WAY earlier this year. Walmart has lost me 6,891.50 dollars since the middle of February. Of course, this was after massive profit, but that's how much they are down for me based on ownership of 770 shares. A good 20% drop. Damn, I might just sell it today, but I'm hoping for some type of spring to minimize losses before dropping it.

Nice loss for tax purposes if sold now, but that game sucks.

There is nothing but doom and gloom on the sams club end of the compnay.

The idiots are overexpanding locally and starving out their own business, and cutting staff and costs at each store to cover the losses in sales from buidlilng new stores all over the city.

In a city of 150,000 people, we now have 8 walmarts and a sams club in the metropolitan area.

Now im no MBA, but if you have 6 walmarts and a sams club, then you build 2 new walmarts, and sales drop 7% (my store) WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK THE SALES ARE GOING?!

that and the fact that Costco is KICKING THEIR @SSES. I hate Sams Club and Walmart. it warms my heart that Costco and Target is beating them.

 

[chowderhead]

Walmart looking to buy TommyHilfiger?
That would be very strange. Tommy Hilger is a fairly upscale brand a while back. I could imagine some kind of licensing deal but to buy them outright and possibly serve as a private label seems like a big risk. Anyway, 2 Billion dollars is a lot of money for a clothing company and name basically.

Edit: for me it would not to be a step up for Walmart, it will be a step down for the Tommy Hilfiger brand. But if I was the owner, I would cash out as well.

 

[darkswordsman17]

We actually were discussing this article in my marketing class last class (which reminds me I was supposed to read it for today's class).

Someone suggested for Wal-Mart to work with some well known company to bolster say their clothing department or something. Our instructor told us that they'd tried it before with the jeans company Jordache (not sure if thats right), and it ended up bankrupting the company (the jeans company, obviously not Wal-Mart). But probably part of the problem there is that Wal-Mart sold the jeans for much less than what they were selling elsewhere, thinking that at a lower cost, more sales would make up for the lost revenue, but that ruined the rep of the jeans.