Trae Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 (edited) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7060101045.html Wal-Mart Scales Back Growth Wall Street Reacts Enthusiastically To Shift in Focus By Anne D'Innocenzio and Marcus Kabel Associated Press Saturday, June 2, 2007; D02 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., June 1 -- Wal-Mart gave investors something Friday that they haven't seen in some time: a reason to pour money into its shares. The retailer, under pressure by investors to improve its sales, said at its annual shareholders meeting that it is trimming store growth as it balances its traditional focus on low prices with a push to be a force for change in such areas as health care and the environment. Its shares rose almost 4 percent on the news. Wal-Mart added that its new mantra is to help customers live better by saving money. Wal-Mart said it would scale back the number of planned U.S. supercenter store openings this year by more than 25 percent, a move that will drop its capital expenditures by $1.5 billion in the current fiscal year and help improve store sales. "The priority for a potential store is selecting a location that makes the most efficient use of capital resources and aligns with market growth priorities," said John Menzer, Wal-Mart's vice chairman and chief administrative officer. "We also have been focused this year on reducing cannibalization of existing stores via our more strategic selection of U.S. real estate projects." Wal-Mart said it will open 190 to 200 supercenters in the United States this fiscal year, with an average of 170 supercenters each year for the next three years. Wal-Mart's carefully staged gathering displayed no signs of doubt about its business. Its executives dismissed its union-backed critics, who have attacked the company on a variety of issues, including health care, wages and buying from China. _____________________ More at the link. So, this could be great news for those of us who hate Walmart Supercenters popping up everywhere. Could the recent scale back plans by Walmart be due to the market saturation of its stores, and repetitive merchandise? How about the recent slump in sales because of the rise in competition from other super markets (Target, etc.)? I am betting that Walmart will bounce back, and start building more and more stores, but I don't want that to happen. Everywhere you turn, there is a Supercenter looming right over you. Thoughts? Edited June 14, 2007 by Trae Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7060101045.html Wal-Mart Scales Back Growth Wall Street Reacts Enthusiastically To Shift in Focus By Anne D'Innocenzio and Marcus Kabel Associated Press Saturday, June 2, 2007; D02 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., June 1 -- Wal-Mart gave investors something Friday that they haven't seen in some time: a reason to pour money into its shares. The retailer, under pressure by investors to improve its sales, said at its annual shareholders meeting that it is trimming store growth as it balances its traditional focus on low prices with a push to be a force for change in such areas as health care and the environment. Its shares rose almost 4 percent on the news. Wal-Mart added that its new mantra is to help customers live better by saving money. Wal-Mart said it would scale back the number of planned U.S. supercenter store openings this year by more than 25 percent, a move that will drop its capital expenditures by $1.5 billion in the current fiscal year and help improve store sales. "The priority for a potential store is selecting a location that makes the most efficient use of capital resources and aligns with market growth priorities," said John Menzer, Wal-Mart's vice chairman and chief administrative officer. "We also have been focused this year on reducing cannibalization of existing stores via our more strategic selection of U.S. real estate projects." Wal-Mart said it will open 190 to 200 supercenters in the United States this fiscal year, with an average of 170 supercenters each year for the next three years. Wal-Mart's carefully staged gathering displayed no signs of doubt about its business. Its executives dismissed its union-backed critics, who have attacked the company on a variety of issues, including health care, wages and buying from China. _____________________ More at the link. So, this could be great news for those of us who hate Walmart Supercenters popping up everywhere. Could the recent scale back plans by Walmart be due to the market saturation of its stores, and repetitive merchandise? How about the recent slump in sales because of the rise in competition from other super markets (Target, etc.)? I am betting that Walmart will bounce back, and start building more and more stores, but I don't want that to happen. Everywhere you turn, there is a Supercenter looming right over you. Thoughts? While I read the article this morning with no small amount of glee (see sig), it's the amount of stores and merchandise that "exaggerates" the losses they're getting. One percent of 100 isn't that big of a deal, one percent of 100,000 is another thing altogether. One thing I have to give respect to Walmart is how their infrastructure that I read and seen in some news pieces over the past few months. It is a very good organizational way of moving equipment around. If only the Government can hire some of those people to make things happen like that. 'scuse me, I have to do a happy dance again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 So, this could be great news for those of us who hate Walmart Supercenters popping up everywhere. Could the recent scale back plans by Walmart be due to the market saturation of its stores, and repetitive merchandise? How about the recent slump in sales because of the rise in competition from other super markets (Target, etc.)? I am betting that Walmart will bounce back, and start building more and more stores, but I don't want that to happen. Everywhere you turn, there is a Supercenter looming right over you. Thoughts?You could call it good news that you won't see as many new stores popping up, but you could also see it as the Supercenter concept becoming mature. I'm not sure that those that don't like Wal-Mart should be jumping up and down solely because a retailer whose revenue growth for a long time outpaced the growth of consumer expenditures is starting to fall back in line with the rest of their retailing ilk. It was bound to happen at some point; I'm not sure that this is a very good picture of a dragon that has been slain or anything at all like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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