Walmarts

ASDA in the UK is part of the Walmart family.

And there are Walmarts in Germany - German website:
http://www.walmartgermany.de/index.php?mapid=16&PHPSESSID=7645d36acb9b5c7a8379d285a81fbb09

Ugh. I have a very major dislike for Walmart.

Whatever's in second place is WAY back in second place. Target and Kmart don't even come close.

Since WalMart sells so many items made in China... a lot of Americans are not shopping there any more. Is that how it is in Europe? Every other item you pick up says "made in china" on it?

We could stop trading with China tommorrow and WalMart would not miss a beat. Their food is half of what I'd pay at other outlets and every bit as good, and I would guess that less than one percent of it comes from China.

Wal-Mart's China inventory to hit US$18b this year
By Jiang Jingjing (China Business Weekly)
Updated: 2004-11-29 15:21

The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, says its inventory of stock produced in China is expected to hit US$18 billion this year, keeping the annual growth rate of over 20 per cent consistent over two years.

The trend is expected to continue, company officials revealed.

"We expect our procurement stock from China to continue to grow at a similar rate in line with Wal-Mart's growth worldwide, if not faster," said Lee Scott, the president and CEO (chief executive officer) of Wal-Mart.

An unnamed company official also stated the firm will extend its procurement base from South China's Pearl River Delta to the North and East China in the coming few years.

A market rumour says the retailer has its eyes on a 340,000-square metre warehouse at a logistics garden of the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Bonded Area.

Scott covertly visited the site earlier this month, and hopes to own the whole warehouse to accommodate the firm's further expansion in China.

At present, Wal-Mart has quite limited warehouse resources in East China.

Xu Jun, Wal-Mart China's director of external affairs, ruled out the rumour, saying the CEO has never visited that or any other site for a warehouse.

Nevertheless, he said China is Wal-Mart's most important supplier in the world. The overseas procurement home office in Shenzhen, a city of South China's Guangdong Province, has played a key role in the firm's global purchasing business.

Wal-Mart shifted its overseas procurement centre from Hong Kong to Shenzhen in February 2002 to better serve the purchasing and exporting business.

"If Wal-Mart were an individual economy, it would rank as China's eighth-biggest trading partner, ahead of Russia, Australia and Canada," Xu said.

By the end of September, 2004, the top seven trading partners to the Chinese mainland are the European Union, the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), South Korea and China's Taiwan Province, state statistics from the Ministry of Commerce.

Last year, the firm bought US$15 billion products from China, half from direct purchasing, the other from the firm's suppliers in China.

More than 5,000 Chinese enterprises have established steady supply alliances with Wal-Mart.

Good quality and low price are the major attractions of the retailing giant.

Insiders point out Wal-Mart's imports from China have largely influenced the US trade deficit in China, which is expected to reach US$150 billion this year.

Xu declined to comment if the anti-dumpling measures of the US Department of Commerce have impacted the firm's procurement of textile commodities and household appliances in China, saying again that China is an important sourcing base for the firm.

So far, more than 70 per cent of the commodities sold in Wal-Mart are made in China.

Experts say Wal-Mart's plan of increasing its procurement from China has granted the firm a positive corporate reputation in the country.

"Buying more products in China means more job opportunities, which helps the firm win not only the government's hearts, but also the customers' appreciations," said Wang Yao, director of information department under the China General Chamber of Commerce.

In the United States, poor people find it possible to afford cheap "Made In China" products for their daily necessities, Wang said.

Wal-Mart, headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, entered China in 1996. It has opened 39 stores, including supercenters, "Sam's Clubs" and neighborhood markets in 15 cities around China, including Beijing, Harbin and Dalian.

It has recently announced the opening of its first store in Shanghai, slated for the middle of next year.

The firm has a total of 4,900 stores in 10 countries worldwide.

Intrepid, do you have a link to that story on its website?

Sorry, I forgot to add it.

Source

Germany does have a couple of Walmarts.
They also have the largest US military hospital outside the States.

Also just recently a bunch of Subways have popped up around me.
I thought they'd have those at airports in cities like Berlin, Frankfurt, or Munich maybe (the parts of the country even US-Americans know) - but no they just recently opened a few Subways in towns of not more than 50,000 people.
How weird is that?

Oh ASDA. They really are value for money. I don't buy ASDA branded items though.

I don't know the real score but I heard Walmart in Germany is not doing well? A few years back they closed 2 stores in Germany. I don't know how they are doing now.

I also don't think the Walmart concept will fly in Europe except maybe in the UK? The mainland European consumer behaviour is very different compared to the Americans. Europeans do not buy a lot of food to store in their fridge and cupboards. Many of them prefer to buy in moderation, little by little, every 2-3 days [or a week of its a working couple], and the new trend in Europe is going healthy, buying vegetables and organic stuff. Canned goods, all those meat stuff, sodas, junk food are major turn offs by many here.

Most WalMarts (at least in the US) actually do not sell food. They are more like department stores that sell clothes, toys and other home products very inexpensively.

Linkat- All the Wal-Marts that are being built now are "Super Wal-Marts", and have a food market as part of their store. The others do sell food, but
in very limited selection, no meat, deli, produce, etc.

I know, cause on my two auto trips across the country, I probably hit every Wal-Mart between Florida and Utah!

This is an old article, and it discusses the Supercenters, which does have food. There are lots more now.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3092/is_1999_Oct/ai_57578918

Yeah, but I think dutched might be confusing Wal Mart with stores like Cosco and BJ - those that you buy items in bulk. Even the Super WalMarts are more like department stores that include grocery items - not necessarily items you need to buy in bulk.

Most of the Walmarts (even the newest one) in my area do not sell food - except for a couple of aisles. Most other similar department stores do the same thing like KMart. They mostly sell home products, toys, clothes with an aisle or two of food products.

Linkat- The interesting thing about Sam's Club, (which is a Wal-Mart subsidiary) is that there are a lot of the same things that they sell in Wal-Mart, but in larger sizes, like vitamins. I love to buy the huge packs of toilet paper, paper towels and tissues, so that I don't have to buy them more than once every few months. I have a business membership, so I can go early in the morning, when the store is very quiet.

I could not deal with going to the super market more than once a week, and on occasion, a second time, and I am retired. I think that it is probably different in towns where there are small shops, and people walk to them.

There are people that I know who swear by Sam's meat, but I have tried it a few times, and am definitely underwhelmed!

Maybe the "WalMarts" in Europe are more like Sam's Clubs?

I love stocking up on the paper stuff too - hate buying it and hate even more running out of it.

Wal Marts here are like any other of those Hyper-Supermarkets - with everything from delis over meat and fruit, vegetables to clothes and tv's, computers etc.

WalMart in Germany is doing extremely bad, although they changed a couple of times their stratgy .... and dozen times more their CEO's and leading managers.

But as long as the American central decides they should be run they'll do.

In Ireland, one of the main super-stores is run by the Dunne Family. There's a Dunne's store in every town/city.

One of the family, (sounds vaguely Mafiosa- like, doesn't it?) Ben, has has something of a chequered life.

- He was kidnapped some years ago by the INLA (a splinter group of the IRA).
- He also owned up to providing the Irish Prime Minister, Charles Haughey, with a "gift" of £1m. No favours asked for or given, naturally.
- He was arrested in Florida after freaking out and threatening to throw himself from the upper-storey window of an hotel. The presence of large quantities of cocaine and a call-girl immersed in a bubble-bath was grist to the mill for the Irish media.

These latter events led to his being ejected from the family business. Nowadays, he runs a chain of health and fitness clubs. At over 300lbs, he's the ideal figurehead for such a venture!

I guess Walmarts in the US are not the same in Germany.

Most Europeans do not like buying a lot. They don't like stocking up. They don't like quantity and anything extra large or that extra refill and everything else.

That's why Walmart Germany is struggling. The American consumer culture will never click with the European consumer market.

Plus they are competing with LIDL and ALDI.