Wal-Mart recently announced a new marketing strategy. According to a recent statement it "will retool its 3,256 U.S. stores over two years to give them a more customized mix of goods and layout for six key groups of customers, including Hispanics, African-Americans and affluent shoppers." Each local store, supposedly, will carry more goods of interest to its immediate market.
From what I can interpret from this article there will be affluent Wal-Marts (whatever the hell that means, because I can't envision such), African-American Wal-Marts, Hispanic Wal-Marts, and so on. Wal-Mart spokesman, Eduardo Castro-Wright, said this will only mean specializing about 3,000 of 200,000 items sold in a typical Supercenter.
I think it's great if a retailer recognizes the diversity of its market, and thus, carries goods of interest to all citizens in that particular locality. However, I have long said, in my opinion, racial discrimination is still rampant as far as retail marketing is concerned. All it takes is a trip through several Wal-Marts,(and to be fair other large retail chains, such as K-Mart, etc.), to realize the difference between stores in affluent areas and those in lower socio-economic neighborhoods. One only has to notice the signage, the organization, the cleanliness, etc., to see the vast difference.
So is Wal-Mart's new plan really a way to better serve very distinct markets? Or is it away to justify the slovenliness of its stores on certain sides of town? Or, gee whiz, perhaps, is it a way to keep minorities out of the stores that are marketed to its more affluent shoppers, and keep "them" on "their side of town?"
As a note, I don't like Wal-Mart, and will only go into one kicking and screaming. However, I've been in enough of them to recognize the smell of skunk.
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