John Whiting - Essay blog

On this day we got to tour a Walmart based in Shanghai.  We have really seen Walmart grow to a level that is almost unthinkable in the United States, but many experts believe that Walmart’s future expansion lies outside of the United States.   Although its current form of operations is very successful in the United States, Walmart needs to adjust in order to be successful in other countries.

We got to see this change first hand as we walked through the store.  One of the first things you notice when you walk in are large yellow signs that hang down from the ceiling.  It was almost sensory overload as you walk through the store and are bombarded with price signs.  This is how things are done in China.  The Carrefour we went to had the exact same format.

The other thing you’ll notice is that the restocking of shelves is done during the day as well as at night.  Unlike the United States where all stock is done at the end of the day or late at night, restocking is done as needed throughout the day.  This sometimes created a hassle as aisles would become clogged and customers would get frustrated trying to maneuver around the boxes.

The other thing I noticed was the larger selections.  Competition is the cornerstone of our economy.  We do have a selection of a few brands in almost every category.  In China, there is a much larger selection in certain categories.  Even within the same category, a brand will have a much wider array of products for the customer to choose from.  For example, to fit the taste of the consumer in China, Lays potato chips had various flavors that we are not accustomed to like Lime, Cucumber, and Blueberry.  Pringles also had shrimp and crab flavored chips.  Take an entire Walmart store, add a second level, and that is the size of the store we went into.  The entire bottom floor was filled with grocery while the second floor was all hard and soft lines.

I also noticed that there was a lot more demonstrations and product samples throughout the store.  While this is a typical practice at many grocers in the United States, they are mostly done on the weekends.  We went into the Walmart on a weekday afternoon when this would typically not be done back in the United States.  This must be a part of the Chinese culture where the Chinese are more use to trying products out in order to know that they will enjoy the products they were buying.  If you think about the average household income of the average Chinese person, this makes sense that they would want to maximize their dollar when purchasing groceries.

Lastly, probably the most shocking aspect of Walmart was the fact that they have busses that constantly bring people to the store.  With how expensive it is to own a car and the city of Shanghai being so bike and moped friendly, this makes sense for Walmart.  Walmart was literally packed with lines at every register, this makes me believe that this particular Walmart in Shanghai must be a destination store. 

I believe the business operations of Walmart have evolved to create a format that is more friendly to the Chinese consumer.  Too often companies do not do enough research in the area they are going in and fail.  Target recently had to do this when they opened a store in Hawaii and Alaska.  Although they are part of the United States, they have very unique cultures.