Wal-Mart

“Wal-Mart’s impact on wages was first felt in rural towns in the south and Midwest where Wal-Mart got its start. Often, it became the biggest employer overnight, setting wage rates for all retailers,” experts said in USA Today (2003, par. 21). While many spotlights beam on the Wal-Mart’s legend appearing in the grocery stores of the United States, it has broken stock market trading records many times. It became a superstar and performed as a giant. “Wal-Mart is one of the most impressive success stories in history of business,” E. Loke said (2004, par. 3). However, does Wal-Mart need to be adored? While someone answers it as “Yes,” I have my own opinions that just came in my mind.

In my view, the main cause that makes Wal-Mart rising in its standing among the grocery stores is the lowest price strategy. J. Hoenig said (2004, par. 6) ”The company’s ‘low price guarantee’ shouldn’t be dismissed as marketing…Wal-Mart can save a family over $ 2,000 a year compared to shopping at higher priced alternative.” When everyone agreed with this, I was much concerned about the product’s quality. From my shopping experience in Wal-Mart, I would say there is no good quality item in the store. The items I bought never could be used for more than half a year. Besides, I was a computer design engineer while I was in Taiwan. We produced two different prices models of the same computer. One is made in Taiwan, and the other is made in China or other countries. Why? That is because we made it for low price marketing though they have the same design; Wal-Mart purchases these products from computer venders. The cheaper electronic consume products had worse qualities the more problems in it.

That Wal-Mart has hired too many illegal workers is another main issue. This issue is so obviously to notice. It has made many families lose their jobs, fall into poverty circumstances, and move to another place. For the rich, they still can swing between Wal-Mart and other high quality product companies. On the other hand, it is a kind of activities, which grab money from poor families and give to the rich.
That Wal-Mart is beating local businesses to die is another serious problem. Wal-Mart has set their stores in many small towns. This strategy will make the small towns’ businesses completely gone. N. Jacobs (Daily Egyptian, 2005, par. 1) once said, “Some Murphysboro and Carbondale residents… fear it will destroy the town’s small businesses and quality of life for some of its citizens.” When the grocery store giant, Wal-Mart, takes place of the small towns’ businesses that citizens’ life of the area would be controlled.

Mal-Mart’s retail strategies seem to have been successful in the past in the USA, but it might not have the same success in the future in both the USA and other countries, because there are many potential issues that are waiting for people to discover. We have a company which produces a rice steamer that can be used for more than 20 to 30 years without any repair, and it is very cheap; and most Taiwanese families have owned one or two of them. Its name is Da-Ton rice steamer. That is just an idea of a good product that I expected. When illegal workers take the place of those legal employees that will cause another serious society impact. The biggest profit of small businesses in a small town is you can control your lifestyle and business’s diversity and it will not prolong the gap between rich and poor.

Reference

Hoenig, J. (2004, February). Welcome Wal-Mart. Capitalism Magazine. Retrieved on November 29, 2007, from http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4561

Jacobs, N. (2005, April). Local opposition to future Wal-Mart Supercenter in Murphysboro. Daily Egyptian. Retrieved on November 29, 2007, from http://newshound.de.siu.edu/spring05/stories/storyReader$858

Locke, E. (2004, February). Three Cheers for Wal-Mart. Capitalism Magazine. Retrieved on November 29, 2007, from http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3534

USA Today (2004, January). Wal-Mart's influence grows. Retrieved on November 29, 2007, from http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2003-01-28-walmartnation_x.htm