With that last example, let's delve a little into that, shall we? One problem Wal-Mart has discovered here in the United States is that it can no longer just open boring, same-old-story big box stores anywhere in the nation (heck, they look pre-fabbed) and expect success. It has discovered that to grow sales and increase marketshare, it must customize the shopping experience for the audience and even to the specific sociological demographic of the area when it opens new stores. We've seen this in Plano, Texas, for example.
This article over at Bloomberg seems to make this same point about Wal-Mart's recent exit from South Korea. The reason given here was that fickle South Koreans did not want spartan, empty stores that did not cater to the specific shopping needs of the South Korean customer.
The needs don't only fall into the product category -- the entire shopping experience as a whole (with all components considered) was just not there in the South Korean Wal-Mart stores. Hence, customers were not shopping there in large enough numbers to justify keeping the doors open on all the stores. Some of the quotes mentioned in this article references the "warehouse-type feel" that the Wal-Mart stores had in South Korea -- and this flies in the face of Korean customs and customers.
One lesson to the world's largest retailer -- perhaps it needs to study the cultural significance of the retail shopping environment before designing and deploying stores. That "warehouse feel" may work here in the U.S., but obviously the culture in South Korea does not embrace this kind of design.
If the store environment doesn't work with customers, the lowest prices and the biggest selection won't matter a bit. Wal-Mart found that out in an experiment that just ended.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-26-2006 @ 1:33PM
C Gayle Warnock said...
When buying products, buy Wal Mart; when investing, buy Wal Mart
5-26-2006 @ 3:29PM
William Martin said...
I don't know what I would have done all these years if we had not had a Wal-Mart. They are not perfect but then no big company is. They have saved me a "ton" of money. Thanks Wal-Mart.
William Martin
Henderson,Texas 75652
5-29-2006 @ 10:39PM
Albert said...
One thing I have learned about South Korea when I was there, is that they are very passionate and patriotic about their home grown product. Be it cars to handphone and even gas station, it is either own by locals or their own brand. Example, I hardly find foreign automobiles in Korea. Mostly Hyundai and Kia.