Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are 'running out of money'.

[Ponce]

Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are 'running out of money'.

Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke (left) speaking to a gathering of industry watchers in New York on Wednesday.
By Parija Kavilanz, senior writerApril 28, 2011: 10:43 AM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Wal-Mart's core shoppers are running out of money much faster than a year ago due to rising gasoline prices, and the retail giant is worried, CEO Mike Duke said Wednesday.

"We're seeing core consumers under a lot of pressure," Duke said at an event in New York. "There's no doubt that rising fuel prices are having an impact."

Email Print Wal-Mart shoppers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, typically shop in bulk at the beginning of the month when their paychecks come in.

Lately, they're "running out of money" at a faster clip, he said.

"Purchases are really dropping off by the end of the month even more than last year," Duke said. "This end-of-month [purchases] cycle is growing to be a concern.

Target prices beat Wal-Mart's
Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), which averages 140 million shoppers weekly to its stores in the United States, is considered a barometer of the health of the consumer and the economy.

To that end, Duke said he's not seeing signs of a recovery yet.

With food prices rising, Duke said Wal-Mart is charging customers more for some fresh groceries while reducing prices on other merchandise such as electronics.

Wal-Mart has struggled with seven straight quarters of sales declines in its stores.

Addressing that challenge, Duke said the company made mistakes by shrinking product variety and not being more aggressive on prices compared to its competitors.

Wal-Mart's ready to do battle on prices
"What's made Wal-Mart great over the decades is 'every day low prices' and our [product] assortment," he said. "We got away from it."

Now, with its strategy of low prices all the time back in place, Duke said making Wal-Mart a "one-stop shopping stop" is a critical response to dealing with the rising price of fuel.

Americans don't have the luxury of driving all over town to do their shopping.


0:00 /3:39Wal-Mart: green good for business
Other than competing on prices and products, Duke said Wal-Mart is focused on leveraging technology -- especially social networking -- more aggressively to drive sales.

"Social networking is much more a part of the purchasing decision," he said. "Consumers are communicating with each other on Facebook about how they spend their money and what they're buying."

Elsewhere, Duke said Wal-Mart is exploring a number of e-commerce initiatives to grow the business such as testing an online groceries delivery business in San Jose.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/27/news/companies/walmart_ceo_consumers_under_pressure/index.htm

[VX1]

Wal-mart's "core" shoppers only have as much money as the government is willing to give them.

They need to get into the big wheel business, and they'll make a fortune off the foodstamp crowd (for a little while longer).

[lapis]

"Wal-Mart has struggled with seven straight quarters of sales declines in its stores."
:o

[solid]

Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), which averages 140 million shoppers weekly to its stores in the United States, is considered a barometer of the health of the consumer and the economy.


Wal-Mart is the 'barometer' of the economy...God, help us all.

I read this earlier today, and my jaw dropped.

Let's do the math...

311 million people in the United States. Maybe 30/31 million are babies, kids, not shoppers.

That means 280 million folks of shopping age in America.

140 million people shop at Wal-Mart every week in the US.

Equivalent...HALF THE US POPULATION SHOPS AT WAL-MART EVERY WEEK!!!!

Every week!!!!

This is why our country is going down the toilet.

[lapis]

140 million people shop at Wal-Mart every week in the US.

Equivalent...HALF THE US POPULATION SHOPS AT WAL-MART EVERY WEEK!!!!

Every week!!!!

Until the last week of the month....when they run out of money. How much longer until they start needing food stamps in order to just eat?

[solid]

Until the last week of the month....when they run out of money. How much longer until they start needing food stamps in order to just eat?


Scary thought. When Wal-Mart states they are hurting because of the economy....things are bad. I mean very bad. This actually was one of the most "we are doomed" stories I've read, economy wise at least.

Lot's of folks are going to be suffering in the near future, even more so than now. Things are not looking good, in the near future.

[Libertytree]

Solid:"Wal-Mart is the 'barometer' of the economy...God, help us all."

That about sums it up.

Seems like there should be something like the Wallyworld Doom Chart or Wally's SHTF Index, and truthfully if ya tracked it close enough it'd definetly be better than the gov's stats.

[Ponce]

And ontop of all that "2 1/2 Men" is moving forward with out Charlie........oh well.

[Veni, vidi...evigilavi!]

And ontop of all that "2 1/2 Men" is moving forward with out Charlie........oh well.

You nailed it Ponce ;D. If this doesn't tell people SHTF already, I don't know what does...maybe a big NEON sign in front of their faces?

[SilverMagnet]

Am I the only one who reads this as good news? WalMart has been a cancer on the face of American society since it started taking over small towns and running mom and pop shops out of business. The fact that business is declining and the slave labor Chinese goods are sitting on the shelf is the best news I've heard all week.

[ShortJohnSilver]

Am I the only one who reads this as good news? WalMart has been a cancer on the face of American society since it started taking over small towns and running mom and pop shops out of business. The fact that business is declining and the slave labor Chinese goods are sitting on the shelf is the best news I've heard all week.


The point is not that WalMart sells crap, it is the nearly real-time indication that Americans are running out of cash and literally living paycheck to paycheck... I would hazard a guess that WalMart has better economic data than the Fed does.

[chad]

i've noticed an interesting thing at my walmart lately. they have been purging the "high end" items in a little clearance section of the store. they are getting rid of these products completely, not just dumping old product. i picked up several jars of aborio rice for $2.00 a pop the other day, expiration dates were 2014. previously, they were priced at $6.49. this tells me that they are making room for cheap food, as that is all people can afford to buy.

good for me though, i got 22 jars of it. ;D

[Ash_Williams]

311 million people in the United States. Maybe 30/31 million are babies, kids, not shoppers.

That means 280 million folks of shopping age in America.

140 million people shop at Wal-Mart every week in the US.

Equivalent...HALF THE US POPULATION SHOPS AT WAL-MART EVERY WEEK!!!!

Every week!!!!

This is why our country is going down the toilet.

Some are probably duplicates though.
I know a lady who goes there 4 times a week to buy more stupid shit just because it's on sale.
I think she just goes an excuse to be surrounded by other fatties with no mission in live other than to spend money.

[crazychicken]

ALLRIGHT!

CC




i've noticed an interesting thing at my walmart lately. they have been purging the "high end" items in a little clearance section of the store. they are getting rid of these products completely, not just dumping old product. i picked up several jars of aborio rice for $2.00 a pop the other day, expiration dates were 2014. previously, they were priced at $6.49. this tells me that they are making room for cheap food, as that is all people can afford to buy.

good for me though, i got 22 jars of it. ;D

[Ponce]

I am a client of Wallys and I do buy their "junk", their frozen food are excellent and not that expensive if you choose the right one.......vegetables are ok but a little bit expensive, in the other hand they cost more elsewhere...........

One trick to keeping what you do have is to always try to live BELOW your means and not above it.......If you have $100.00 live as if you had only $80.00......if you have one million treated as only $700,000, after all remember that some people only have $20.00 and they are as happy, or happier, as those who may have one million.

First post of the day...........good morning to one and all.

[lapis]

good for me though, i got 22 jars of it. ;D

Congratulations! Although I'm not a regular patron, I also occasionally go to Wal-mart and Big Lots or the Dollar Store, because you never know when you'll find a great deal like this (and most of the regular patrons have no idea when they come across food gold!). My latest triumph: I found several jars of organic sesame tahini at the Dollar Store! These are really expensive at the health food store.

[lapis]

I know a lady who goes there 4 times a week to buy more stupid shit just because it's on sale.

Not for long, with gas prices going up! This is a tragic situation: people only have so much money on hand to buy groceries with each week, so they have to make more driving trips. They'd save gas money if they bought in bulk just one time a month.

I belong to several co-ops: Frontier, Azure Standard, some local CSAs. It's easy enough to save money if you buy from them regularly, but most people have no idea about these companies. They need better PR people to reach the masses.

[lapis]

Re-written for truth:

Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are 'running out of government money'.

I don't know, I think many of these are NOT on the dole yet. It doesn't sound like most of the people mentioned are getting food stamps.

[lapis]

One trick to keeping what you do have is to always try to live BELOW your means and not above it.......If you have $100.00 live as if you had only $80.00......if you have one million treated as only $700,000,

But below a certain income, you won't have enough money for food! This is not sustainable, even if people are living on ramen noodles and peanut butter sandwiches. I wonder how many Americans are dying of starvation, like they did in the Great Depression 1.0?

[Book]

I wonder how many Americans are dying of starvation, like they did in the Great Depression 1.0?



http://www.foodhealthnews.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/American-woman-obese-265x300.jpg

Half of America is now morbidly obese.

:)

[Large Sarge]

One trick to keeping what you do have is to always try to live BELOW your means and not above it.......If you have $100.00 live as if you had only $80.00......if you have one million treated as only $700,000,

But below a certain income, you won't have enough money for food! This is not sustainable, even if people are living on ramen noodles and peanut butter sandwiches. I wonder how many Americans are dying of starvation, like they did in the Great Depression 1.0?




you can eat grains, rice and beans (low on the food chain), and eat very very nutritious food.

Flax seed is extremely nutritious, and not expensive.

"whole foods" take more prep time, and planning, but cost less, and are more nutritious....

[lapis]

Half of America is now morbidly obese.

That's true, many could survive by burning off their adipose tissue, but they're still malnourished.

[Book]

Half of America is now morbidly obese.

That's true, many could survive by burning off their adipose tissue, but they're still malnourished.



Maybe Americans will be a lot healthier after the collapse. Maybe the collapse is a necessary good thing...

:dunno thin the herd in many ways

[ximmy]

Half of America is now morbidly obese.

That's true, many could survive by burning off their adipose tissue, but they're still malnourished.



Maybe Americans will be a lot healthier after the collapse. Maybe the collapse is a necessary good thing...

:dunno thin the herd in many ways




Many of those peeps on "Survivor" lose a lot of weight...

[Book]

Many of those peeps on "Survivor" lose a lot of weight...



http://cdn.blogs.sheknows.com/realitytvmagazine.sheknows.com/2009/06/the-biggest-loser-season-8.jpg

Those who think outdoor exercise is icky can go on the Biggest Loser teevee show instead.

:D Imagine millions of obese people sitting on their sofa watching this teevee show while munching Jenny Craig meals. only in America!

[Ash_Williams]

Not for long, with gas prices going up! This is a tragic situation: people only have so much money on hand to buy groceries with each week, so they have to make more driving trips. They'd save gas money if they bought in bulk just one time a month.

The ones I know who take multiple trips per week do it because buying shit is an activity for them. They claim to be broke, trying to save money, blah blah, but really they want to go to the dollar store and look around for an hour, then go to walmart, then because they got so much stuff on sale and saved all that money they'll reward themselves by picking up a bottle of wine too.

Later they can phone their other broke friends and talk about the great deal they got on a box of disgusting frozen pizzas or a lamp they don't need.

TV, shopping, eating, and being on the phone is all a lot of people do in the day.
They don't know what to do without their frequent shopping breaks.

[ximmy]

Many of those peeps on "Survivor" lose a lot of weight...



http://cdn.blogs.sheknows.com/realitytvmagazine.sheknows.com/2009/06/the-biggest-loser-season-8.jpg

Those who think outdoor exercise is icky can go on the Biggest Loser teevee show instead.

:D Imagine millions of obese people sitting on their sofa watching this teevee show while munching Jenny Craig meals. only in America!




Jeebus!!!

[goldleaf]

If the crap walmart sells was mfg. in this country, made by its shoppers they might get more people in.

[SilverMagnet]

Am I the only one who reads this as good news? WalMart has been a cancer on the face of American society since it started taking over small towns and running mom and pop shops out of business. The fact that business is declining and the slave labor Chinese goods are sitting on the shelf is the best news I've heard all week.


The point is not that WalMart sells crap, it is the nearly real-time indication that Americans are running out of cash and literally living paycheck to paycheck... I would hazard a guess that WalMart has better economic data than the Fed does.



Oh I understand the point. But my point is that the end justifies the means. And one of the main reasons people are living paycheck to paycheck is because the manufacturing base has left to China.

WalMart losing money = Good news. Bring the jobs back.