He has ushered in a lot of changes.
1) When was the last time you heard “Low Prices, Always” that phrase, the phrase that built Walmarts brand in no longer part of the WalMart lexicon.
2) If you notice, a Walmart commercial on TV looks EXACTLY like a Target commercial.
3) Wal Mart changed their logo, to resemble a Target logo.
4) Wal Mart had a 25% SKU Rationalization, which means Wal Mart dropped/deleted/stopped carrying, 25% of the items on the shelf. This means items considered duplicate items, like different brands green beans, some of those brands are dropped in favor of the National Brand and the Great Value Brand. The brands that were dropped most frequently were strong regional brands. They often had the lower price, so they were a threat to Great Value, and were a thorn in the side of the National Brands.
So by performing a 25% item reduction, Walmart eliminates it's closest price competition to Great Value, and the National Brands lose a competitor. And a strong regional brand is minimized. Affecting local economies. Not just in manufacturing jobs, but local media advertising is lost as well.
Not only that, but it was the strong regional brands that really worked well with Wal Mart. The selection available and prices at Wal Mart were the reason to shop there.
5) Wal Mart does perform stringent Quality Assurance on it's store brands, their Chips Ahoy knock off has 7% more chocolate chips than Chips Ahoy. However not all Great Value items have come under such scrutiny, some Great Value items that Wal Mart has carried for years did not have to face such scrutiny, they were basically grandfathered in, so there are some clunkers out there.
6) Wal Mart has changed it's pricing format to resemble Dollar Store pricing, no more 98 cents, 88 cents pricing. now it's $3, $2, $4 pricing. And make no mistake about it,this brings more profit to Wal Mart.
So, Wal Mart has changed, they have embarked on a strategy to eliminate their greatest identified threat, Target and Dollar Stores by emulating their them.
In doing so they have killed Low Prices, Always, prices have undoubtedly gone up, I have seen it, and I shake my head.
Couple this with the minimizing of regional brands, and the formula has changed. Instead of great selection and low prices it's Great Value, less selection, higher prices. They are strangling the Golden Goose.
Thing is, they did all this to attract the Blue State Target shoppers, and they are the people who for years have ridiculed Walmart and the people who shop there.
You know, us conservative, NASCAR, red necked Americans.
That’s quite detailed and very informative. Thanks...