A typical Walmart has 70,000+ items stocked at any one time. How much demographic heterogeneity can they possibly achieve while maintaining that kind of scale? Furthermore, there is a huge amount of overlap between the six cartoonish groups mentioned in the article.
My guess is, this shift would only affect 5-10% of a store's otherwise one-size-fits-all inventory. Maybe a suburban-typed Walmart has more baseball and soccer equipment while a rural-typed one pushes fishing poles and guns (again, like you said +q, totally silly and stereotypical). But what about affluent, empty-nester African-Americans? Don't they need light bulbs and undershirts just the same as rural, affluent Hispanics or suburban, empty-nester Asians?
All in all, I do not see this enacting any sort of paradigmatic shifts in the way people shop at stores like Walmart, and their basic business model - providing the lowest prices possible through an exploitation of high-volume procurement and distribution networks - will undoubtedly remain unchanged.
Mason, I am saying that it may signal a beginning towards there.... we are not even close to that now. my question is: could this be a trend?
I think that the categories right now are silly and stereotypical (do Cubans Colombians, Mexicans, Puerto Ricas, Argentinians, etc... buy the same things?)
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Although the 6 groups seem a little silly and stereotypical, could this be the beginning of a less homogenized society?
McDonalds serving local delicacies?
Wal Mart becoming pseudo-local?
cmon +q - i would hardly say creating a category called "African-american" or "Hispanics" is acting local.
A typical Walmart has 70,000+ items stocked at any one time. How much demographic heterogeneity can they possibly achieve while maintaining that kind of scale? Furthermore, there is a huge amount of overlap between the six cartoonish groups mentioned in the article.
My guess is, this shift would only affect 5-10% of a store's otherwise one-size-fits-all inventory. Maybe a suburban-typed Walmart has more baseball and soccer equipment while a rural-typed one pushes fishing poles and guns (again, like you said +q, totally silly and stereotypical). But what about affluent, empty-nester African-Americans? Don't they need light bulbs and undershirts just the same as rural, affluent Hispanics or suburban, empty-nester Asians?
All in all, I do not see this enacting any sort of paradigmatic shifts in the way people shop at stores like Walmart, and their basic business model - providing the lowest prices possible through an exploitation of high-volume procurement and distribution networks - will undoubtedly remain unchanged.
Anyone have the link to the Wall Street Journal article? This one doesn't say much.
Mason, I am saying that it may signal a beginning towards there.... we are not even close to that now. my question is: could this be a trend?
I think that the categories right now are silly and stereotypical (do Cubans Colombians, Mexicans, Puerto Ricas, Argentinians, etc... buy the same things?)
I guess I won't be shopping there I don't fit their catergories....
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