Why is it that everyone "hates" Walmart, but yet everyone shops there anyway?

Question

Just doing some marketing research. I listen to customers complain all day about how bad every aspect of Walmart sucks, but yet they continue to shop day after day. What is the appeal and why do they keep coming back if it's so darned bad? Figures don't lie and the fact is people keep bringing their money to Walmart. Anyone have any theories?

Answer 1

Yes mam,

Many people like Wal-Mart because their products are priced lower than the other grocery stores. The main draw is price. However, Wal-Mart will make you wait in line to get that price. Most people don't like that. As Wal-Mart puts more and more stores out of business, you will have to wait even more. Wal-Mart could care less about customers. They are a money sucking machine. That machine has an insatiable appetite-it can not be pacified. Most people know that as they shop at Wal-Mart they help put their friends and family out of a job,but they can not resist the lower price. They eventually realize that they have only cheated themselves and their community by using Wal-Mart. And, it bothers them-but there is nothing they can do about it once all stores are closed except WAL-MART. So---they hate it.

Answer 2

Excellent questions, especially since Wal-Mart is in the highlight of some journalistic questioning. Recently, I watched a superb documentary where the CEO, Lee scott, was interviewed. I forget who the journalist was, but he didn't spare any "shots." At the end of the program, you couldn't help but be impressed.

Wal-Mart, as you know, targets the "mass money spender" rather than the high end income generator (the rich people). Therefore, its customers will be those of low to middle income and having seen a few Mercedes and even a Jaguar coasting up for parking in front of the doors of this retail giant, I would guess those with a little more cash than the rest of us like the bargains at this store too.

So yes you do hear a lot of "I hate Wal-Mart" and yet the retail giant continues to gain in revenue. I like Wal-Mart. I must admit that some of the clientele it attracts, I do not like. I also do not like some of the "less than savvy" associates many of them hire. Although they are all trained, some of them just don't get the importance of customer service. Whether we want to admit it or not, this is a problem in all facets of retail, no matter the company. This is due to the wage "generator" where you get what you pay for.

The appeal of Wal-Mart, as many have written here, is the low prices. Also, Wal-Mart has an array of products that some of the other department stores do not carry. For example, I am a crafter and believe it or not, Wal-Mart has honed in on the right kind of crafts someone of my hobby expertise needs and at a price that is out of this real. I found one product at a fabric store that also has a huge variety of crafts and Wal-Mart was 55% cheaper. Because of this, I tend to shop there for my regular household goods (i.e., toilet tissue, cleaning supplies, etc.). Not all of their products are of good quality (i.e., bed linen, etc.) so I do not purchase those things but on the whole, will shop there for a bargain.

So even though I am not always greeted properly (I love the greeters, its nice to be "welcomed") and the clerk is standing there complaining that she hasn't had a break, I will still go because I want to save money. Yes, sometimes the hassle is worth the dollar I saved.

Wal-Mart is the "Bill Gates" of the retail world. I feel sorry for the Mom and Pop stores but other stores have pushed them out too; its just a matter of business this day and age.

In all of its frustration and sometimes not so happy times (especially during the holidays), I still love Wal-Mart.

Answer 3

i drive a truck for a living. it's my job to pick things up from various places scattred all over the contry and take them to walmart, Kmart, taget, dollar general, family dollar, wherever. Walmart and target sell the same stuff that comes from the same suplliers. I've been there.
Despite what anyone says, there are litterally thousands of companies right here in the USA that employee millions of people, that supply Walmart. I know because I go to them each and every day, they fill my truck and I take it there. A lot of the stuff is made right here, some of it is imported. When Ii'm sent into a dock facility on the east coast and get a load of goods right off the boat, it could go to any one of those chains of stores, Walmart is not the only "culprit." Beside, who in the USA still makes shoes? Blue jeans? Shirts? no one. so where else is it going to come from?
As for them beating out kmart. i have been sub-contracted out to deliver Kmart loads to Kmart stores, and have been sub-contracted out to haul Walmart loads from walmart warehouses to walmart stores, so I know both of their systems intamately. walmart is far more effecient at running thier company, they have a far better distribution network. That's why they are winning.there is no grand conspiracy. they have access to more items to sell, can sell it cheap, and that's what the consumer wants!

unions. yes they are anti-unions. so what? In the midwest, people from there know what I'm talking about, there is a chain called Meijer's. Walmart litteraly stole the supercenter idea from them, Meijer's has had them up since the early 80's and they are still building new stores, but not at the rate Walmart is. Walmart took their idea and ran with it.. Meijer's is union. I have a store within walking distance of my house, so my two of my kids have worked there in the past. Here is the deal. Meijer's pays a little more, but after the union takes their dues out, the Walmart cashier goes home with more money.How is being in the union benefit the cashier in this circumstance?

Answer 4

The prices are the best of any retailer.

But the store has a declassé reputation, no arguing. People equate it with trailer parks and Arkansas, where its corporate HQ is. Being a walmart greeter is the new insult to imply a job any idiot could do, the way people used to say "hamburger flipper at Mickey D's" And it has a reputation for not being kind to it's employees, and using predatory pricing practices to force it's vendors to give it the cheapest price -- including forcing them to outsource their production to China in order to make any profit.

And, of cource, it's a mom and pop business killer. You go to small towns now that used to have a main street -- with a drug store, a bank, an optician, a couple of restaurants, a couple of groceries, a clothing store, a department store, a general store, a beauty shop -- and that main street is boarded up, because the walmart out on the highway wiped it all out.

People are to blame -- and not walmart -- for being willing to destroy a way of life, a multilayered, multi-player economy, and all competition, just in order to save a dollar here and there.

So I think people feel a mix of guilt and embarrassment, for these reasons, to be known for shopping at walmart. But the prices keep pulling them back. Sad but true.

Answer 5

walmart has killed out other retail stores like kmart and various others by purchasing in large bulk i mean like dvd players they buy 500 at a time but they might sell 100 with 400 left over then just keep them in stock then place them on sale and get rid of maybe 150 then they do it over again until the supply is gone. they buy many sell a few but they dont have to pay a huge price for them.they have a team from every state to see what everyone wants or needs so they have the money to buy in bulk and the smaller stores cant compete with walmarts prices. the walmart where i live is packed on thursday when the furniture industry employees get paid. that is where most of the money walmart makes comes from.

Answer 6

Well, I too strongly dislike Wal-mart, yet I still shop there. I live in Clovis New Mexico, and it ain't a metropolis. So, Wal-mart has the monopoly which isn't fair but is the truth. That dreaded store is only good for buying tooth brushes to socks and generic items. and pulls everyone in like a frinkin black hole....

Answer 7

it's convenient, inexpensive if you pay attention, not everything is less. I hate it and shop there when I have to. Usually "have to" means it's after noon and the traffic is so horrible that making several stops is more frustrating that dealing with the freaks that work and shop there. I don't even go into the store unless I have had a few hits of pot though. I just cant' take it straight.

Answer 8

It is pretty simple. Wal-Mart has the cheapest prices or the only prices. The Mom and Pop stores can't keep up with the wealth of the Walton family and so they get pushed out. So even thou Wal-Mart uses it's money and power to bully other stores and its own employees, we really have no were else to shop, especially if you are on a tight budget.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

There is no sense in going against the system. The government wants
everyone to spend their money on useless junk. Society is based on a
caste system. The rich and powerful want the poor to have inferior goods.
It makes them feel good. Walmart gives the unemployable somewhere
to work and gives the lower classes somewhere to shop. Win win?