Video of Wal-Mart's spreading across USA like germ culture
The WSJ has an article abut the trouble Wal-Mart is facing, because competitors are offering Wal-Mart's low prices along with better quality merchandise, better service, and more convenience.
The most interesting part, however, was this video showing the way Wal-Mart has spread across the country like a microbe culture in a petri dish.
Today, though, Wal-Mart's influence over the retail universe is slipping. In fact, the industry's titan is scrambling to keep up with swifter rivals that are redefining the business all around it. It can still disrupt prices, as it did last year by cutting some generic prescriptions to $4. But success is no longer guaranteed.Link (Thanks, Mister Jalopy!)Rival retailers lured Americans away from Wal-Mart's low-price promise by offering greater convenience, more selection, higher quality, or better service. Amid the country's growing affluence, Wal-Mart has struggled to overhaul its down-market, politically incorrect image while other discounters pitched themselves as more upscale and more palatable alternatives. The Internet has changed shoppers' preferences and eroded the commanding influence Wal-Mart had over its suppliers.
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This is silly. Of course it looks like a germ culture; so does any company that starts out as a regional retail outlet that expands outward to eventually become a national one. So would any naturally occuring population growth.
That's a good article. Thanks. Cool graphic, too. But why does it stop at 1988?
The WSJ, displaying either journalistic objectivity or conservative bias (depending on your point of view) barely mentions the social and economic effect that Wal-Mart has had on the US. Personally, I hope Wal-Mart and the Wal-Mart model quickly become a thing of the past.
And I wouldn't underestimate the effect of grassroots resistance to its practices in undermining its growth. That effect IMO would have been greatly magnified if not for the fact that the people who most benefit from the low prices are those least financially able to boycott it.
These people are caught in a bind that free market forces not only have not relieved them of, but have created in the first place: my wages are low, so I have to shop at discount chains that are helping to ensure that may wages become even lower....
This, my friends, is why you gotta Buy Indie [buyindie.net]
I found the article pretty interesting. In my town the Wal-Mart has only been around for a little over ten years. As a consumer I remember when our regular Wal-Mart turned into a Supercenter. Before it became a Supercenter I used to go there for the regular household stuff, occaisionally buying devices, furniture or electronics.
But when it became a Supercenter I stopped going there altogether. It became the most inconvenient place to shop, no parking, constant crowds, long lines, the grocery section in our has the most confusing layout, and not to mention anytime I did go in there the layout of was different enough that it was difficult to even find what I would be looking for.
In the 3 years it has been a Supercenter I have only been to it maybe a dozen times. And personally that's just my opinion as a consumer.
As I learned more about Wal-Mart business practices, it made me dislike Wal-Mart even more. So I agree with Nick D in hoping that the Wal-Mart model becomes a thing of the past.
Wal-mart's domination of the discount products market in our nation is remarkable. I had no idea that they had spread through the nation in such a short amount of time. What I did know about them was that they treat the people who make their products horribly. They pay them rediculously low wages, which is one of the reasons they are able to offer their merchandise at such low prices. Maybe (hopefully) now that they do not dominate the market, the way they run their company will change.
It reminded me of a time-lapse movie of a germ culture. I'm sure lots of other things grow like that, too.
I would be interested to see a graphic that also includes WalMart "antibodies"; for example, other superstores like Target, Gemco, Costco, etc and see if their existance in an area affected the spread of WalMart
I love how the article contrasts Wal-Mart negatively with, of all places, Best Buy:
Ack.
How come no one else ever comments on the "stink" of a Wal Mart. That semi-rancid cloud of air from the nitrite dogs and vaporized popcorn butter as soon as you walk into the confines of the store. That alone keeps me out of there but for one thing - the 5 quart jugs of motor oil. Pay cash. No bag please. Get outta my way!
If anybody is interested in downloading the nifty video, the original can be found here:
http://www.econ.umn.edu/~holmes/papers/Wal1962-2004_nov_05.wmv
Way back in the early 1990s I spent six months in Guatemala-- where I naturally met a lot of other American slackers like myself living in exile.
One day a couple of them were talking about Walmart. I had not idea what they were talking about. They didn't believe me. Growing up in California, I had never seen or heard of Walmart.
Oh, those were the days!
I look at Walmart as a necessary evil of its time. Being in college in the late 90' I enjoyed to freedom to buy a gallon of Milk, quart of Oil and a T-shirt at the same time. Now my wife refuses to step foot in one because of the lack of quality goods and the chaos that ensues when trying to check out.
I think Wal-mart still has it place but it will have to adapt to the new desires of their customers. I like the fact that the market is forcing them to change as opposed to government-lead change.
Another great competitor to Walmart is Wegman's. It combines the quality of Whole Foods and the size and variability(organic and non-organic products) of Walmart. I hope they continue to expand, it is truly amazing visiting one of their stores for the first time.
Racist people could look at how blacks populated different parts of the US over time and compare it to a virus. The American Indians could make the relation to how whites spread like a virus.
We could look at how the building of hospitals and schools has spread like a virus. We could look at the entire human population as just a big virus to the earth. Starting in Africa and spreading from there.
Just because something starts small and gets big, doesn't mean its good or bad.
Wal*Mart has spread because people shop there. If they didn't, they wouldn't have enough money to continue building stores. So maybe the contention is not with Wal*Mart, but with the people that continue to shop there. A corporation is nothing without its customers.
@#14: you're imputing a value judgment to Mark's post that probably isn't there. OK, maybe the word "germs" has a negative connotation, but I don't think that was intentional. How about giving the guy the benefit of the doubt?
Per your remark about customers, it's true: a retail outlet is nothing without customers. But if by "maybe the contention is not with Wal*Mart, but with the people that continue to shop there" you mean they are partly responsible for Wal-Mart's business practices, I would refer you to my comment @#2. I.e., anyone who shops at Wal-Mart because they can't afford not to can hardly be blamed for their decision.
I think Wal-Mart went wrong when it changed from a place that you wanted to visit to a place you had to visit. As in when they crushed the competing grocery stores and discount stores. Now, those stores are making a comeback and everyone is left with that same "have to go" feeling with Wal-Mart and try to avoid it.
Wal-Mart needs to focus on the safety of its products. China has become a growing concern yet Wal-Mart doesn't seem to care.
Infection, plague, or the scruge, Walmart is the king of bait and switch. My hometown fell victim by their lower food prices. Now ten years later, they are the only one left. We now pay higher prices thatn before or drive to the next smart town, with no Walmart, to get better prices. Be afraid if you here they are appproaching. We just need to work on the monopoly one store at a time.