Wal-Mart takes aim at hitting the Target

Reuters ^ | 6/16/05 | Emily Kaiser

[mlc9852]

My Super Wal-Mart is usually very well staffed with often no waiting time in line. Maybe yours just had a bad manager.

[lastchance]

You want a scary slice of American life. Go to a Walmart in the South at about 2am. I live in Florida but my Aunt who is in Missouri says the same thing. The people you see give a new meaning to the term " shallow gene pool" And this is from someone who loves the South.

[Frank_Discussion]

I buy all my shoes at Target, though. The styles at Wal-mart are horrible, and they aren't any cheaper. I'm wearing a pear of really nice all-leather boat shoes from Target as we post, and they've held up well with daily wearing for six months. I have to buy two pairs at once to match up my feet, too, and they still only cost about 45 bucks for both pairs together.

[dbwz]

stores began to look "junky" because of all the displays of low-priced goods.

Got news for you, Wal-Mart looked junky WAY before that, because they have too much crap in the store PERIOD. Shopping at Wal-Mart had to be one of the most frustrating exercises I've ever put myself through - yet the place was full of people with overflowing shopping carts. I guess I just don't have the patience to wander all over a 25,000+ square foot store looking for something or someone to tell me where I can find it! Wal-Mart is a definite last resort in my shopping hierarchy.

[mlc9852]

Wow, I think you just offended a lot of people. I love shopping at Wal-Mart but I won't take it personally. I find most Wal-Mart shoppers to be average, hard-working Americans. I like people like that.

[Das Outsider]

I can vouch for both. Let's just say that the freaks really do come out at night. In some cases, I'm convinced that it has something to do with not being seen in daylight.

D.O.

[TheEditor]

WalMart probably doesn't worry Target long-term nearly as much as the growing US presence of the ultimate in semi-downscale chic:

Ikea.

[LowCountryJoe]

Conclusion: more variety, more savings, more consumer satisfaction, and more disposable income to spend elsewhere. No matter how you slice it, the consumer wins!

[Fawn]

Knowing that they are out to get target...I'm going to start shopping their more often.

[Junior]

Target has sushi. WalMart has McDonald's. I'd rather go to Target.

[Miss Marple]

You are so right! I detest Wal-Mart and can't shop there. The aisles are too close together and the store is dirty, plus there are lots of really weirdo people both on the staff and amongst the customers.

Also, I cannot ever find a thing in that store. Example: trying to find a Rubbermaid wastebasket for my bathroom. In every other store I have been in, all of the Rubbermaid stuff is together. Not at Wal-Mart! Rubbermaid wastebaskets are in the wastebasket area, while plastic containers are in the kitchen area, and dishdrainers located by dishes!! So when there is a Rubbermaid sale, you have to walk all over the store to find things.

I don't think I have been to the Wal-Mart in four years.

[Fawn]

Knowing that they are out to get target...I'm going to start shopping their more often....shopping at Target that is.....not wallyworld. If Wallyworld has no competetion...they'll take over the world!

[Lil'freeper]

Ikea!!

(I'm headed there tomorrow.....)

[Miss Marple]

Ikea!! A masterpiece of marketing! I took my daughter to the one north of Chicago a few months ago. Unbelievable prices and great display. I wish there were one closer to me.

[ken5050]

Your point is well made, but coudn't the reverse also hold true. If WM..because of the food and the good prices on staples, becomes a must-vist weekly or more often destination...and then those same shoppers realize that they can also get good values on other stuff..well..are you really going to drive from the WM to the Target, so you can feel "good" about buying the same piece of merchandise at the same price...?

[Clemenza]

This Target customer hasn't stepped foot in a Wal-Mart in five years and doesn't plan on doing so in the future. Poor service, shoddy merchandise and the fact that the nearest Wal-Mart is 30 minutes away in a bad neighborhood mean that Wally World will not have my business for the forseeable future.

[em2vn]

Target's Chinese suppliers are under state orders to slow down deliveries to Target. Wal-Mart is the retailer of choice for the Chinese since it is building a large presence in Communist China. In fact Wal-Mart is reported to have requested that China harm Target by slowing deliveries so that Wal-Mart can gain from Target's loss.
This is all fantasy but could it happen? If an MSM reporter were feed such a line I am sure we would be seeing it on television, unnamed sources of course.

[LowCountryJoe]

Both stores are hurt by the made-in-China junk, including clothing.

But, are they really hurt? The Magic Eight Ball, probably made in China, says, "My sources say no."

[discostu]

I don't think WalMart can actually compete head to head with Target, notwithout a major overhaul to just about everything. It's not just the slightly higher quality of goods that sets Target apart, they also put in less merchandise per square foot, which means fewer shelves causing there to be more room for people, so the place is innately less cramped than Wally and has a more relaxing shopping experience. That's really what makes me more of a Target shopper than a Wally shopper, it's just a much less annoying place to go.

[Question_Assumptions]

Please note that I qualified my statement with, "at least around where I live." I've been in Wal-Marts in other areas that are fairly pleasant but the one like me is like visiting the zoo. It's not an income-level or ethnicity issue, either. Wal-Marts in my part of New Jersey seem to attract a very unpleasant pool of shoppers to be around, not because they are poor, minority, or immigrant but because they just aren't very nice people to be around (e.g., the people who can't or won't control their kids, people who don't watch what they are doing or where they are walking, etc.).