Wal-Mart - does the name sound familiar? Well, this is one of the biggest retail chain in the U.S. But, with the growth of other brand names like KMart, Macy’s, as well as Kroger, Wal-Mart is facing a hard time in the retail business. With the ever growing customer demand to ‘rollback’ prices, Wal-Mart is facing a tough time.
Consumers have been demanding personalized service at low cost. Such is the nature of the retail business. They want everything at low price, otherwise they will simply move on to the next brand name. Also on the demand list are freshness and more choices.
Most of these businesses have one formula that helps them expand. For Wal-Mart it’s the super center concept. Now, the retail chain seems to have outgrown the formula. Former Fingerhut executive and CEO of Growth Ventures, Love Goel agree with this idea,
All retailers have a formula. They grow as far and as fast as they can with that formula.
Certain businesses overgrew over the years and now they have to reorganize their own world to adjust to their size. For example companies like Microsoft, IBM as well as General Motors had to readjust their structure after growing to enormous sizes. In a similar fashion, Wal-Mart needs to reorganize their structure or rather reformulate something that best fits their size. For Wal-Mart the key to it’s growth was : lower prices. Every time the chain store slashes the price, more consumers go shopping there.
However, the rivals of Wal-Mart are keeping up with this strategy and lately the good old retail store is in deep crisis. Also, with most of the shoppers getting addicted to the easy to use online/Internet shopping malls, Wal-Mart is running out of business! I hope they can find another formula before it’s too late.
Image Credit: 20lbsin30days
