Wal-Mart Retail Brand | Labor Practices


commenting closed	bookmark	print
suggest topic	recommend ( 8 )	email

Will Wal-Mart’s controversial practices doom the brand?

I don't think the 'Wal will fall' necessarily but i do think that the brand owners will have to establlish a driver other than low price to maintain the number one position the retailer currently holds. It will have to revise its policies w/ regard to employees (for instance) and that will cost money. That cost will be passed on to customers who have no other reason to go to Wal-mart. The company needs to push a more emotional connection with Wal-mart.

Oscar Larosa - July 5, 2004

1) Wal-Mart thrives in an anti-labor administration and it is closely associated with the Republicans. If Democrats win the White House and take over the Senate or House, those occasional newspaper stories could turn into a full-fledged anti-PR campaign.

2) Besides labor (including off-shore production) Wal-Mart's impressive MIS cuts brick & mortar costs to the bone. But look out if Sears, for instance, ever remembers its catalog sales heritage and figures out how to use the web (even lower overhead) to steal share from W-M. Would anyone miss the 'experience' of shopping at W-M?

Mark Paul, Writer, Mark Paul - July 5, 2004

The darling of Wall Street, current business writers' favorite case study, the 'Jack Welch of retail.' But is Wal-Mart the favorite destination or shopping experience of consumers? Hardly. It is so much easier to stay at the top in your market after you kill off the local competition and become the largest local employer. How many stories about communities opposed to Wal-Mart's presence, of shadowy dealings to get its interests on formal ballots, of poor labor practices, of displaced workers, and of revenue transferred out of local economies does it take to destroy a brand in the mind of the consumer? It would appear one heck of a lot if you have a team of PR dynamos working for you.

This brand is in trouble, and the W-M back office and Wall Street are in denial. Move over K-mart and Sears, be prepared to be joined by another retail giant that forgot it was the consumer and their own customer facing people who took them to the top, not the folks in accounting and IT.

Another significant weakness is the fact that Wal-Mart does not control the key brands they sell, and if these are, or are forced to become, socially responsible they can foster a consumer revolt that could make Wal-Mart's cost advantage irrelevant. What would Wal-mart be like if all they sold was cheap house and also ran brands? That market niche is already occupied and hurting.

Radical philosophical changes at the very top are needed to keep this brand from turning into the retail brand everyone loves to hate. Even amongst those who respect Wal-Mart's accomplishments it is acknowledged to be a bully and ruthless.

Steven Graff, Senior Consultant, Design Reactor - July 5, 2004

If Wal-mart is the way to go, there will be more stores like Wal-mart open. There will be more and more poor people in this country, In the future, stores are either Barney's and Wal-mart. There will be no between.

Yin Ng, Designer - July 5, 2004

Wal-Mart is pricing themselves right out of business. Price alone won't keep them afloat, because price does not foster loyalty (like innovation and "personality" do). We buy things we need for cheap, but we don't have warm, fuzzy connections with cheap. We all like to think that we can afford much better, and feel much more loyalty to the brands we spend more money on. It will be a lovely irony when Wal-Mart becomes its own worse competitor.

Kellie Schroeder, Wunderwoman, Fuelhaus - July 5, 2004

view all comments

2013 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

Nov 29, 2004	Can Euro Disney be Saved?
	Is Eurodisney actually eroding the Disney brand? With no positive equity why does Disney continue with its European theme park?

Nov 1, 2004	Are focus groups a big lie?
	Does consumer research suffer from the flawed method of focus groups?

Oct 4, 2004	How do the candidates for US president measure on brand?
	Described as an election that will affect the whole world, which candidate for US president has the most compelling brand?

Aug 30, 2004	Wal-Mart on Wheels?
	Could car brands by IKEA, Wal-mart or amazon be the future of the auto industry?

Aug 2, 2004	Do the Olympics promote a city to any lasting effect?
	What's the ROI on attracting the Olympics to your hometown?

May 31, 2004	Professional service branding: waste of time or sound investment?
	Individual or the firm: Who comes first in professional services?

May 17, 2004	Should Volkswagen stop for directions?
	Is Volkswagen still the volks wagen?

May 3, 2004	What will be the result of Google's IPO?
	Does IPO spell the end of Google's great brand? What should be its strategy for maintaining the brand under shareholder demands?

Apr 5, 2004	Viagra or Pfizer: How important is the corporate brand in pharmaceutical branding?
	Is the corporate brand a worthy investment in pharmaceutical branding?

Mar 1, 2004	Where lies the future for food brands?
	GM, mad cow and processed junkfood are all under attack. Do food brands need to rethink their strategies?

Feb 2, 2004	Can the BBC recover from the Hutton report?
	Will the BBC's image suffer over recent allegations of cover up?

Jan 5, 2004	Is Playboy Still Hot?
	Is Playboy still hot after fifty years?

RSS

| Privacy Policy | About Us | Contact Us | FAQ