Wal-Mart's Supercenters Are Becoming A Major Problem

[thelakelander]

Wal-Mart's supercenters are struggling as consumers increasingly choose convenience stores over one-stop shops.
The retail giant's mega stores suffered a .3% same-store sales decline in the second quarter compared with last year. During the same period, foot traffic for Wal-Mart's U.S. stores fell by 1.1%.

By comparison, Wal-Mart's smaller-format stores, or Neighborhood Markets, generated same-store sales growth of 5.6% and traffic increased by 4.1%.

"I think convenience is where the consumers have been looking, [especially] if you look at the Baby Boomers," Wal-Mart CFO Charles Holley said on a call with reporters Thursday.

Full article: http://www.businessinsider.com/walmarts-supercenter-sales-decline-2014-8#ixzz3ASSLcr30

[acme54321]

Who would actually want to go to a walmart supercenter?  The staff is less than helpful and they are usually a mess.  The only time I ever go into one is if I absolutely have to because they are the last resort.

[I-10east]

Who would actually want to go to a walmart supercenter?

A lot of people...

[spuwho]

That is why they named a new CEO.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/15/walmart-2q-earnings_n_5678689.html?utm_hp_ref=business

Walmart's New U.S. CEO Hints At Major Problem

Walmart's new U.S. CEO is dedicated to keeping the company's shelves stocked, addressing a problem the retail giant hasn't always been happy to discuss publicly.

"We will deliver against these key customer requirements: being in stock, clean stores, the right price, the right items, improved service, better productivity," said U.S. CEO Greg Foran, announcing his priorities on a pre-recorded conference call with analysts Thursday.

Bloomberg reported last year that Walmart was struggling to keep shelves stocked because it had opened new stores while cutting down on staffers and hours.

Walmart officials at first called the premise of Bloomberg's reporting "inaccurate," leading Bloomberg to publish another story featuring emails from Walmart customers around the country, that suggested the problems were actually widespread.

But Walmart executives admitted at an internal meeting earlier this year that they needed to stock shelves correctly, saying it could be a $3 billion opportunity for the company, according to notes from the meeting obtained by Bloomberg.


Photos of empty Walmart shelves in October 2013, taken by Brian Sozzi, the CEO of Belus Capital Advisors.

In the earnings call on Thursday, Foran noted that Walmart increased the number of associate hours in its latest quarter in a handful of store departments, including overnight stocking. That has helped improve the stocking situation some, according to Brian Sozzi, the CEO of Belus Capital Advisors.

Below are some photos of well-stocked Walmart shelves, taken by Sozzi took within the past month:





Making sure the company has the right level of merchandise on its shelves is something the company is "always working on," Walmart spokesman David Tovar told The Huffington Post on Thursday. Walmart's U.S. CEO Foran addressed the importance of well-stocked shelves at a meeting with staffers in Denver on Thursday to get ready for the holidays, Tovar added.

"Being in stock is a key retail fundamental, and it's been that way in retail for many, many years, and it will be that way in the future," Tovar said. "We've got to get it right because the customer can't buy something if it's not on the shelf."

Bare shelves are just one of the many problems Foran, who was appointed a few weeks ago, will have to address if he wants to turn Walmart's U.S. business around. On Thursday, Walmart reported that sales were flat in its latest quarter at U.S. stores open more than a year, a retail measure known as same-store sales. That comes after a string of five quarters of negative same-store sales.

The economy's slow recovery is squeezing low-income Americans, Walmart's core customer. As a result, they aren't spending as much at Walmart and other stores.

Walmart is also struggling to compete as Americans shift their shopping patterns. Customers looking for convenience are increasingly heading online or to dollar stores, pharmacy chains and neighborhood shops instead of schlepping out to a Walmart supercenter in the suburbs. Walmart has responded by rolling out a suite of Neighborhood Market stores, which have performed better than its more traditional supercenters.

The company has also beefed up its e-commerce business in recent months, including offering a price-matching service and revamping Walmart.com so it is easier to navigate. Global e-commerce sales increased 24 percent in the latest quarter, company executives said Thursday.

[benfranklinbof]

WalMart is a terrible place. I don't go there anymore. The workers are unhappy and they offer the worst customer service. If the employees are unhappy then their not going to care about their work. Their going to do the bare minimum. The morale in that work place must be terrible. The only thing the workers care about is that little bit of green that they receive every month.
Walmart is extremely unorganized and messy. It looks as if no one has touched any of the shelves since they stocked them. When ever I did go to WalMart I remember that I would front their product lol. I hate messy environments.

[acme54321]

Who would actually want to go to a walmart supercenter?

A lot of people...

Do you think they WANT to go there?  Do they enjoy the experience?

[I-10east]

^^^IMO it's mostly convenience and a cost thing with Walmart moreso than a 'quality' issue. I've been to plenty of supposed 'quality' stores, and didn't find any readily available help (I never find readily help in Costco, Target etc). Customer service is one of the most overrated things about a grocer, and I rarely use it whenever I shop; Now if you're talking about a cable service like Comcast where you're forced to use it, that's a different story.  I think that the 'totally disgusting brown stained floors of Walmart, and all of the shelves have items knocked on the floor' is highly exaggerated also.   

[FSBA]

Wal-Mart lured me back as a customer when they started heavily pushing they were matching Publix and Winn-Dixie's weekly BOGOs.

They promptly lost me when it became apparent nobody at the registers knew what the hell they were doing. Is the limit one free item or two? Do I need the ad with me or not? One lady said she had to get the store manager to "pre-approve" the price match.

[I-10east]

The thing that I hate about any grocer are the people that can't maneuver a shopping cart. We are in Florida, so their's all kinds of these people (elderly, people that don't speak English in the middle of the aisle, and people (usually ghetto or country) that just don't give a f*@#) The unaware people that have their cart on one side of the aisle, and body on the other, completely blocking the aisle; The family with eight kids all over the place blocking the aisle. I've saw these people at every store, not just Walmart. Sorry about the rant. Hope that I wasn't too 'un-PC' for the PC crowd.

[coredumped]

Edit: You need to throw something in about the Gays buying up all the organics and you'll be fine.

He just needs to go to the riverside publix

Seriously I-10, talk about 1st world problems. If the biggest complaint you have in your life is someone left a shopping cart in the middle of the isle consider yourself lucky!

Back on topic, who WOULDN'T want to shop at walmart?
https://www.youtube.com/v/PRkOBgVx9Dg

[benfranklinbof]

I shop at whole foods, Publix, grass roots, fresh market and sometimes target. I care more about the quality of the item vs the price. I also think all of those places that I listed have good to excellent customer service.

[David]

The only part of Wal-Mart I'll go into the garden center for an easy in and out. If it's beyond that, i'm not going.  It's too friggin big! I know CVS & Walgreens are more expensive but I'll take them any day over Wal-mart just for the convenience.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I've pretty much boycotted Walmart since, well....  I wasn't even sure. 

So I went to the Vystar Website and did a search...  There's only one charge from Walmart since 2002, and that was in Sept. '13 and I let my son going inside to pick up Madden '13 because the Gamestop on 103rd was closed by the time we HAD to have it. 

I refused to go in, so technically, I haven't stepped foot in one of their stores in over a decade. 

Not really important, but if more people would commit to their 'beliefs', things might actually change. 

[I-10east]

You don't have to worry about PC when you cover all the bases. You're fine, you hit old people, immigrants, big families,  black folks and rednecks.

Who do you like to shop with? Middle aged white guy executives.

Edit: You need to throw something in about the Gays buying up all the organics and you'll be fine.

I'm sorry that you are so sensitive....I bet that you're not one for dark humor....