Age of Walmart

On my first visit to Walmart, I was totally awestruck by the size of the supercentre, which occupied an area of approximately 2 soccer fields. I saw people carrying toothpastes, camping tents, clothes, fruits, guns, TV's, dog food etc. Infact, when I saw a couple push a trolley with a small kid in it, I asked my friend, "Do they sell kids too ?". I shall reserve a serious discussion on this topic to one of my 3023 A.D post. I made sure I followed my friend closely through all the aisles, lest I get lost in this strange place.

For a city with a population of only 100,000, State College had 2 big walmarts, which meant that these stores were never really crowded, though saturday and sunday afternoons were a bit different. On the other hand, there are 20 Walmarts for a population of 17 million people in Los Angeles county. The ratio of people per Walmart is 20 times more than what it was in Pennsylvania. On my limited trips to this superstore in Northern LA, I have noticed this difference in ratios. The stores are choc-a-bloc with people, the aisles are clogged, the check out counters run long, the cheapest items are all sold out, and the parking lots are overflowing with cars.There are kids running all over the place, and the generally cordial associates seemed overstressed and understaffed, and the whole experience of shopping at the store seemed a trifle painful.

With Walmart expressing interest in opening stores in India, I start wondering whether there would be similar scenes inside these stores in India, if not worse - Parents admonishing their squabbling children, frustrated people lining up at a counter where an elderly couple is holding up the line due to price check on a trivial item, people haggling at the customer service dept cause they wouldn't accept a returned item etc.... and I started thinking what Walmart would do the India markets. Firstly, Walmart has been a huge success in USA due its ability to sell cheap goods produced in Asia. This formula will, however, not hold good for the Indian markets. But a corporation like Walmart doesnt mind raking up losses, to beat all the local competitors. The technique of lowering prices, and bearing losses to beat local competition has been very successfully implemented by leading dailies like Indian Express & TOI in small cities.

The more successful you are at a particular thing, the more susceptible you are to criticism. Walmart has faced its own share of litigations and lawsuits. Walmart has been alleged of depriving its workers of any benefits, while paying a measly 5-6$ an hour. There has also been cases of hiring and exploiting illegal immigrants. There have been lawsuits over racial & sexual discrimination. I know a lot of people who have stopped shopping at this giant cause they dont consider the company to be ethical. On the other hand I have also heard great stories about Sam Walton and his first store in Bentonville, AK. I have heard tales of how he coined the term "associates" for all the employees and how the company cared for its employees. I am in the process of researching more facts about the company, and shall refraing from making anymore haphazard comments.

The whole idea of the post was to write about feasibility of Walmart in India, but I seem to have drifted a lot, and thus I shall stop.

ps: There is going to be a long hiatus in my blogging activity, as my parents are coming to Los Angeles, and I shall don the hat of a California tourist guide for a month......