Walmart Takes on Saint, Best Buy

When a Walmart Supercenter plans to open up somewhere in the U.S., an angel may not get its wings but there may be a Saint running interference.

Today's Wall Street Journal reports that the mega-retailer's grocery rivals have been engaging Saint Consulting Group to "secretly run" anti-Walmart campaigns.

While any protests may appear to be grassroots efforts by local homeowners, in many cases these Saint-engineered stealth campaigns "have more than doubled the amount of time it takes" to open a store and serve to "generate negative publicity" for Walmart and its parent company, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Saint specializes in building support "for or against controversial projects, from oil refineries and shopping centers to quarries and landfills." Its representatives lobby local politicians and hire lawyers and traffic experts to fight against a planned Walmart store. "Saint has jokingly called its staff the Wal-Mart killers," says WSJ.

As Walmart continues slashing prices and stepping up its game against the likes of Best Buy, other retailers do have cause for concern.

In the U.S. alone, Wal-Mart operates more than 2,700 supercenters, which sell merchandise and groceries. The Journal reports that over half of Wal-Mart's U.S. revenue came from grocery sales last year.

It's not just supermarkets that should be concerned, however; Walmart is making a move to aggressively compete with electronics superstores like Best Buy as well. The retail brand is upgrading its television department, adding brands, increasing the TV screen sizes it sells, and even investing in technology.

The company recently acquired online movie service Vudu, and Greg Hall, corporate VP of media and services for Wal-Mart, says "we're working with the [movie] studios to create very compelling offers. Work needs to be done to create value out of the digital purchase, so we're partnering with the studios and using our experience with physical media."

To continue to drive sales of grocery items in particular, Wal-Mart has been aggressively advertising "rollback" prices on television (such as the spot below) and in print. "We know this summer is still going to be tough for American families and our 'deep Rollbacks' on everything from ice cream to cereal are designed to help them enjoy the summer for less," says Jack Sinclair, the retailer's EVP of grocery.

As for how it's going to manage this growth, the company is planning to hire up to 500,000 employees in the next five years.