Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats • Hacker News Board

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#141

Post by Rapzid » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 2:52 AM UTC

ineedasername wrote: post #69

mc32 wrote: post #2

I think Wal*Mart has an image problem. I’ve gone into their stores. Their stock assortment isn’t bad compared to the competition. In fact, aside from Whole Foods on the organic/bio side of things, they measure up very well and better compared to their competition. They are more of a hypermart where you can do one stop shopping ala Carrefour. The issues I see are: very drab color palette. Working class shoppers. Sure,…

Their interior could use a better design. However, the vast majority of people are working class. Their problems aren't shoppers' opinions of other shoppers. An upscale version might attract other customers of a higher socioeconomic status, but there's lots of competition in that market as well, and it's not a core competency of Walmart, making it a longshot bet. Based on what the article says from the memo, a lot if…

It's not the best choice, it's Spacer's Choice!

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#142

Post by tartoran » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 2:52 AM UTC

cptskippy wrote: post #57

mc32 wrote: post #2

I think Wal*Mart has an image problem. I’ve gone into their stores. Their stock assortment isn’t bad compared to the competition. In fact, aside from Whole Foods on the organic/bio side of things, they measure up very well and better compared to their competition. They are more of a hypermart where you can do one stop shopping ala Carrefour. The issues I see are: very drab color palette. Working class shoppers. Sure,…

> I think Wal*Mart has an image problem. If you know their history then you understand how they got where they are. Walmart grew in the 80s and 90s by planting itself just outside the city limits of small towns across America. They attracted the towns people with low prices and jobs. Their presence eventually shutdown every competing small business in those towns and the former purveyors of those businesses often wou…

Amazon followed their path and they also started to have issue: with their image.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#143

Post by mgkimsal » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 2:53 AM UTC

ipaddr wrote: post #130

mc32 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Profit per dollar for grocery stores is about half of one cent for every dollar of revenue. Shrinkage eats into that profit very quickly. This is why Walgreens is closing stores in SF. They cannot survive with the rampant unprosecuted shoplifting in SF.

That profit margin sounds very off. Is there a reference you are using to determine that? For an average $200 bill the store makes 1 dollar?

Every time I hear people talking about "grocery store margins" the numbers get smaller and smaller, and I suspect "Hollywood accounting" may be behind some of the numbers people are thinking/repeating.

I can say some of the shops around here have always been pricey, but a Lidl came in to town and manages to undercut every other store by around 30% on pretty much every comparable item. Overall, stores making 0.5% profit simply doesn't add up. We've got more new chains moving in to the area, existing stores moving (merely half a mile away for access to better demographics), and this is all costing tens of millions in construction alone. Note: I realize that other regions may have store closures to balance this out too - some areas boom, others shrink.

I can not believe multi-billion companies would be putting up tens/hundreds of millions to chase after these minuscule (and apparently shrinking) profit margins. Maybe I'm wrong. Or perhaps this meme of "grocery stores never make a profit!" is wrong, or at least overblown. A quick check up of a regional store indicates their net profit is somewhere around 2.3% of sales volume - not stellar, but not terribly close to 0.5% either.

EDIT: bit more info/breakdown on the subject: https://thegrocerystoreguy.com/what-is-the-profit-margin-for...

EDIT 2: FWIW, on your $200 example, the company making 'only' $1, it's probably more like $4-$5, but that's after all other expenses (labor, inventory, insurance, advertising, etc) is factored in.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#144

Post by edgyquant » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 2:53 AM UTC

adrr wrote: post #95

edgyquant wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

#3 really irks me, because they don’t check everyone’s receipts. I was stopped and asked for a receipt two days ago for a gallon of milk I had in the cart because it “wasn’t in a bag” while other people walked past. I can understand e.g. when I buy a TV, but a gallon of milk is ridiculous and profiling.

Just say no. They won’t/can’t stop you. Costco has it in their membership agreement but stores that aren’t memberships; you didn’t agree to it and you have no obligation to show it. Worst case you get banned.

I understand I can say no but this is the only Walmart in my routine that isn’t a super center (it’s a “neighborhood market”) so I don’t yet want to get banned from there. I am planning to start shopping at somewhere besides Walmart in the near future though.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#145

Post by loonster » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 2:53 AM UTC

bobthepanda wrote: post #83

handrous wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Observations about the nearest Wal-Mart: 1) All the employees look sad, all he time. 2) They've obviously carefully tuned their check out staffing so that the lines are always long. This is such a constant that it has to be intentional, and they're doing a good job of it. 3) Sometimes they attempt to check receipts at exit. I don't get that at any other non-membership store. 4) All the shoppers look sad. 5) It's the…

Also, it doesn’t quite help that their color palette is fluorescent white and blue, which is something that evokes, say, a dreary clinical setting, and not necessarily somewhere you want to shop.

With the low cri fluorescent lights.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#146

Post by rsuelzer » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 2:54 AM UTC

rubicon33 wrote: post #97

cptskippy wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think Wal*Mart has an image problem. If you know their history then you understand how they got where they are. Walmart grew in the 80s and 90s by planting itself just outside the city limits of small towns across America. They attracted the towns people with low prices and jobs. Their presence eventually shutdown every competing small business in those towns and the former purveyors of those businesses often wou…

It sucks that while there are enumerable benefits to free market capitalism, there's also serious drawbacks. You tend to see the formation of mega corporations that can use economy of scale to secure and hold huge economic advantage. Short of some breakup, or government intervention, what can be done? The system is designed to reward those who find the best market fit. The problem is, there's no brake pedal on their…

This, in my opinion, is the largest role of government in a capitalist society. Capitalism is not sustainable without guard rails. By design, a company will always pass costs onto society if it can.

The government has an obligation to ensure negative economic costs are paid by the producers and consumers of goods and services.

An example of this would be Walmart for years relying almost exclusively on Medicaid benefits for their employees healthcare. Walmart is hardly the worst company in terms of passing economic costs on to others or future generations. But, the point is, that unless the government forces a company to pay the true costs of doing business it's always going to result in market distortions.

It's a design flaw of capitalism, which is actually easy to correct within an equitable political system. However, this is much more rare than it ought be.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#147

Post by lotsofpulp » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 2:54 AM UTC

bushbaba wrote: post #114

paxys wrote: post #107

Walmart gets a lot of flak for being old school and allowing Amazon's rise, but they are one of the very few retailers who have actually been able to respond to competitive threats over the last decade or two. Walmart Labs has some great tech and hires top software talent in the industry. They aren't shy about making large acquisitions when needed (like Jet). They have built out their own delivery and logistics netwo…

And yet I don’t use them. I use Etsy. I use chewy. I use other niche e-commerce but I never use Walmart online. They can’t just replicate Amazon they have to be better than Amazon.

They are better than Amazon. You can filter search results on Walmart so that you don’t see third party reseller Aliexpress garbage and only stuff sourced by Walmart themselves.

Last I checked, Amazon had removed that option as of maybe a decade ago, and they commingle inventory so they do not assure me of any supply chain integrity.

And they are more expensive for any dense, heavy, especially liquid products.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#148

Post by leesalminen » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 2:54 AM UTC

MiddleEndian wrote: post #137

handrous wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Observations about the nearest Wal-Mart: 1) All the employees look sad, all he time. 2) They've obviously carefully tuned their check out staffing so that the lines are always long. This is such a constant that it has to be intentional, and they're doing a good job of it. 3) Sometimes they attempt to check receipts at exit. I don't get that at any other non-membership store. 4) All the shoppers look sad. 5) It's the…

>They've obviously carefully tuned their check out staffing so that the lines are always long. This is such a constant that it has to be intentional, and they're doing a good job of it. Macy's has a similarly annoying policy. They deliberately keeping their cash registers unmanned, which they apparently tell their employees is to "avoid intimidating customers" so you have to stand around waiting or seek out an employ…

Once, as a child, I grabbed the phone behind the counter, hit the PA button, and requested a cashier at our section. It worked! Probably wouldn’t go over so well as an adult, though.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#149

Post by _wp3r » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 2:55 AM UTC

alephnan wrote: post #139

_wp3r wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So to be clear you are not an elitist, but you don't shop at the lower cost store, because the greeter was having a bad day and was not nice enough to you and should have known what class you are and should have shown more reverence?.

> you don't shop at the lower cost store, because the greeter was having a bad day and was not nice enough to you People at Wal-mart have a bad day all the time. It's about the customer service. I have less anxiety knowing that if I do run into problems in the store, the staff would be more approachable. > what class you are and should have shown more reverence I didn't read the original comment this way. It sounds l…

I would also hope that customer service is awesome all the time, but saying the greeter was not nice enough is a pretty specific dog whistle.

I shop at the wally all the time, and I am just calling an elitist a spade free of any strawman you want to pile on.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#150

Post by andreilys » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 2:58 AM UTC

paxys wrote: post #107

Walmart gets a lot of flak for being old school and allowing Amazon's rise, but they are one of the very few retailers who have actually been able to respond to competitive threats over the last decade or two. Walmart Labs has some great tech and hires top software talent in the industry. They aren't shy about making large acquisitions when needed (like Jet). They have built out their own delivery and logistics netwo…

In the last 20 years they’re stock has only gone up 150%....

Yes that’s better than bankruptcy but Walmart is a far cry from a successful old incumbent being able to address new upstarts.

Also what makes you say Walmart Labs has great tech and hires top software talent?

A quick look on Glassdoor shows the salary is quite low (esp. as it’s based in San Bruno). I know plenty of new grads that are earning much more, even at non-FANG company. I imagine like most incumbents, Walmart underinvests in tech because they see it as a cost center.

The typical Walmart Labs Software Engineer salary is $116,635. Software Engineer salaries at Walmart Labs can range from $66,567 - $184,513.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Walmart-Labs-Software-Engin...