Scott on health care records and technology

One of the main areas affecting Wal-Mart's drive to organize and move more product using highly efficient electronic methods, the CEO described working closer with doctors so that the retailer can fill prescriptions with fewer mistakes and more efficient processing. Wal-Mart has a goal of filling more than eight million prescriptions by the end of this year -- more than a 400% increase from 2007 levels.

Beyond that, Scott described Wal-Mart working with employers (just a small group to start) to assist in the process of paying prescription drug claims as efficiently (i.e., electronically) as possible. This, of course, with the goal of removing unneeded costs from all the manual processes involved now. Wal-Mart is probably best known as the leader in removing every penny of cost from any area it can in order to famously offer "Everyday Low Prices." Whether you believe that is strictly for the consumer's benefit or for beefing up the retailer's bottom line is an argument saved for another day.

In addition to working on ways to lower costs when it comes to prescription drug claims from insurance companies, Scott also said that it wants to provide electronic health records to all of its U.S. employees and their families by the end of 2010. In essence, a little less than three years from now. Scott described the deadline by saying that new electronic medical records "will be personal, private and portable. They will drive down costs and improve quality and safety."

Scott on product quality

2007 saw many recalls from Chinese-based suppliers in areas from grocery items to children's toys, and the scenario of worsening Chinese product quality was something Scott also addressed. Although Scott did not elaborate much, he did say that Wal-Mart was prepared to pay more to suppliers "who maintain our standards throughout our relationship."

Since these "standards" aren't public knowledge, one can only guess that Scott was talking about. One can also infer that the retailer didn't measure quality in its suppliers at all until all of last year's product recall hubbub. If so, any "standards" would have weeded out such low-quality goods from various Chinese suppliers. In a statement that any 1970s-era CEO would say in 2008, Scott added that "Paying more in the short term for quality will mean paying less in the long term as a company." Well, duh.

Scott out on a limb

Scott also talked about several ideas stemming from a possible future involvement in hybrid vehicle production (to allow customers to save on gas costs). He went a step further into the possibility of offering "eco-friendly energy" to consumers. Scott envisioned a Wal-Mart location that would allow consumers to charge up their vehicles while they shopped inside.

Can you imagine your local Wal-Mart with portions of the parking lot dedicated to solar panel arrays and small wind turbines? That is the picture Scott painted. After all customer re-charging needs were fulfilled, Wal-Mart could then send remaining power back into the public electrical grid. Scott then completed the thought by alluding to customers being able to "buy" cheap, eco-friendly power "at the unbeatable Wal-Mart price."

Is Wal-Mart's intent to become the greenest company from an internal and customer-facing perspective within the next decade? Unless Scott spent the day blowing smoke, that is what I would say. If standard retail won't do it from a status quo perspective, then Wal-Mart will sell power and process medical records at "Everyday Low Prices" and re-invent itself as a retailer working outside the standard discount mass merchandise arena.

Wal-Mart either is facing an identity crisis or really wants to change the paradigm of mass retailing it helped create by turning emerging consumer needs into top business priorities. This will, in turn, create a whole new market in future demographics that would possibly end up as "addicted" to Wal-Mart as those in their 40s and 50s are now. By taking current trends into the mainstream -- mainly energy efficiency in every which way -- Wal-Mart could capture a whole new generation of Americans as long-term shoppers.

Perhaps a grand vision like the one Scott portrayed would finally lift Wal-Mart shares significantly past the $50 mark for the first time in a long time. In the meantime, the company seemingly has a lot of work to do. Some of Scott's ideas were definitely "out there," but the company changed the global face of retailing once. Perhaps it can do it again.

Stay tuned next week for another edition of The Wal-Mart Weekly. Until then, have a great Thursday!