The notion of "quality trumps price" has not gone unnoticed at Walmart. In an annual report from Walmart three years ago, they admitted to what others had been reporting for some time, that the Walmart customer base has an income that is well below the national average. In addition, while most analysts believe it is higher, but Walmart finds that slightly more than 20% of their customers, one-in-five, do not have a bank account. That's more than twice the national average.
Because of that 2006 report, the one that makes it very clear that Walmart was catering to low income shoppers, Walmart began to take steps to change not only their image (with the nifty new Oneword, no-hyphen, upper/lower case name and logo), but to attract more affluent buyers, in addition to targeting specific audiences.
They dumped the one size fits all concept and have been moving to target six separate demographic groups, African Americans (A.K.A. blacks), Hispanics, empty-nesters, the affluent, rural and suburbanites. Among these 6 demographic groups, Walmart identified three primary groups to target, namely the Brand Aspirationals (people with low incomes who are obsessed with names like Rubbermaid, KitchenAid, Dirt Devil), Price-sensitive Affluents (wealthier shoppers who love deals), and Value-price Shoppers (poor income people who like low prices and cannot afford much more).
Recognizing that quality trumps price, they dumped the long-time slogan of "Always Low Prices, Always" and replaced it with two distinct marketing slogans, both designed to massage your mind into making you feel better about shopping there: "Saving people money so they can live better lives" and "Save Money Live Better". Because, of course, Walmart is the answer to you living a better life.
They changed the name from hyphen WAL-MART and asterisk WAL*MART to the much more friendly Walmart, with its rounded typeface, and looks more like John, or Mary instead of the cold block letters. No explanation was given by Walmart for the stunningly odd asterix sunburst sparky thingy in the logo.
They have also started opening up the new Supercenter concepts with the green theme, where they are catering to more affluent shoppers in targeted communities. These have things like wood floors, wider aisles, free WiFi in the coffee shop, more expensive and higher quality electronics, beers and wines, clothing and other goods. Always Low Prices, Always, is no more. Quality trumps price.
They are also trying to copy Tesco's Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market concept with their own Walmart Neighborhood Market. Walmart had to close up shop and leave a handful of European countries due to Tesco's might over there, and the reverse may very well happen here. Time will tell if they succeed.
Those who enjoy the psychological aspects of psychological marketing, or those who like to be able to recognize when they are being manipulated by marketing, will enjoy watching how Walmart does with its subtle and not-so subtle attempts to change their image and attract new shoppers.
I do shop there, though not very often. If I'm looking for something specific and it's available at Walmart and a lot of other places, chances are it'll be cheaper at Walmart, so I'll get it there. Things like, I dunno, shampoo, toothpaste, windshield washer fluid, bunk batteries. But I won't buy junk there just because it's cheaper. I'll get the higher quality item someplace else.
Remember when, back in 1985, amid anxiety about trade deficits and the loss of American manufacturing jobs, those jobs Cheri talks about that were moving overseas long before Walmart got involved so directly with it, Sam Walton launched a "Made in America" campaign that committed Wal-Mart to buying American-made products if suppliers could get within 5 percent of the price of a foreign competitor. This may have compromised the bottom line in the short term, but Walton understood the long-term benefit of convincing employees and customers that the company had a conscience as well as a calculator.
Then Sam Walton died, and things went south in many respects. Corporate executives still clung to the "reduce costs at all costs" mantra, but did it without Sam Walton's commitment of how to do that. Dateline NBC exposed Walmart touting stuff as Made In America when it wasn't even made in the western hemisphere. Whoops. There goes the Made In America marketing campaign. It was reduced to "reduce costs at all costs" and "Always Low Prices, Always" where they eventually started chewing up and spitting out suppliers until more and more of them either had to close up shop entirely, or move overseas and become an importer, and it's coming back to bite them.
Question is, are they actually big enough to overcome it all? Clearly, they'll have to facilitate some domestic manufacturing in order to do it, if for no other reason than they need customers who have jobs.
