Walmarting
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Walmarting is a newly formed word with three meanings. The first usage refers to competitive business practices of large corporations, derived from those of the retailer Wal-Mart. This use is similar to the concept of globalization and is used pejoratively by critics[1] and neutrally by businesses seeking to emulate Wal-Mart's success.[2]
The second usage refers to the homogenization of the retail sector, due to those practices[3] and is pejorative.
A third, neutral usage, refers to the act of shopping at the retail chain, Wal-Mart.[4] In the southern United States this is sometimes described as going to 'Wally World".
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[edit] Background
The term "Walmarting" derives from debate over Wal-Mart's business practices, which effectively apply optimization concepts from logistics, purchasing and finance to achieve and maintain low prices especially when questionable ethics are made use of to do so.
More generally, "Walmarting" refers to the spread of Wal-Mart’s business model to other big-box retailers throughout the American economy, and the national or global implications of that proliferation.
The Wal-Mart business model includes: marketing to a broad “family” demographic that includes rural as well as urban, ethnic minorities as well as mainstream, lower- or working-class consumers as well as the middle-class; one-stop shopping based on a very large selection of goods and services; the use of intense price competition and high-technology inventory management to stimulate and satisfy end-user demand; extreme economies of scale based on big-box delivery of consumables; aggressive supply-chain management that requires producers to reduce their costs significantly to find an outlet for their goods; employment of store workers for low wages, few benefits, and little job security to reduce overhead.
Critics have claimed that the domestic impact of Walmarting is to force local businesses into bankruptcy because they are unable to compete with Wal-Mart’s “low, low prices,” and to reduce the standard of living for local workers who lose their jobs, then must accept work at Wal-Mart levels of compensation. Similarly, it is argued by some critics that the international impact of Walmarting is to force American suppliers to rely on low-wage foreign producers for goods, leading in turn to an unfavorable national balance of trade and contributing to the growth of the American temporary and low-wage employment sector.
In response, Wal-Mart proponents point out consumer monies saved by purchasing lower-cost goods can then be diverted elsewhere in the economy to create jobs. Supporters of Wal-Mart have also noted that retail-driven price competition rationalizes the economy and eliminates wasteful deployment of capital and labor. Wal-Mart advocates particularly emphasize the democratic values inherent in providing a store where all Americans can afford to shop.
Walmarting differs both from "Disneyfication" and "McDonaldization," though there is a strong family resemblance. "Disneyfication" and "McDonaldization" emphasize the “fun” of theme park attractions and fast food dining, while Walmarting markets itself mainly upon shopping for savings. "Disneyfied" businesses embellish a particular theme as imagined history, while "McDonaldized "businesses rationalize a specific good or service; by contrast, "Walmarting" plays upon a single aspect of shopping – getting a bargain – and applies it across the board to a broad range of goods and services available in its “super-stores.”
The "Walmarting" concept has been applied in various industries. The external links below cite examples of its usage for the first two definitions.
[edit] External links
- Challenging the WalMarting of America - Plenty is Wrong with the Wal-Mart Picture, by US Congress Representative Earl Blumenauer
- A newspaper columnist quoted on an art site
- A union newsletter
- A proposed national ad campaign
- An AFL-CIO magazine article
- The transcript of a radio program
- An industrial news website
- A public relations firm that works with non-profits
- An industrial news source, summarizing an article in a San Francisco newspaper
- A bookstore owner reviewing a book
- 2004 usage on the site of a British publisher
- 2000 usage in a magazine article
- Not-for-profit, online network of Christian organizations
- Spark's Company, an agricultural and commodity market research, analysis and consulting firm's May 12, 2004 paper, "Niche Farmers, Mega-Farmers and Transition Farmers: Implications for the North American Agri-Food Value Chain"
- Application of term to data warehousing in annotated bibliography by OmegaPoint Network Enterprises in 1999
[edit] See also
- Disneyfication
- McDonaldization
- Wake Up Wal-Mart
- Criticism of Wal-Mart
- Globalization
- Category killer
- Big box store
- Whirl-Mart
[edit] References
- Bergdahl, Michael (2004). What I Learned from Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World. ISBN 0-471-67998-4.
- Bianco, Anthony (2006). The Bully of Bentonville: How the High Cost of Wal-Mart's Everyday Low Prices Is Hurting America. ISBN 0-385-51356-9.
- Dicker, John (2005). The United States of Wal-Mart. Jeremy P. Tarcher. ISBN 1-58542-422-6.
- Ehrenreich, Barbara (2002). Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. Owl Books. ISBN 0-7453-1846-0.
- Featherstone, Liza (2004). Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02316-9.
- Fishman, Charles (2005). The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works--and How It's Transforming the American Economy . Penguin Press. ISBN 1-59420-076-9.
- Joseph, Marc & Fischer, Rusty (2005). The Secrets of Retailing, or: How to Beat Wal-Mart!. Silverback Books. ISBN 1-59637-037-8.
- Lichtenstein, Nelson (2006). Wal-Mart: A Field Guide to America's Largest Company and the World's Largest Employer. New Press. ISBN 1-59558-035-2.
- Norman, Al (2004). The Case Against Wal-Mart. Raphel Marketing. ISBN 0-9711542-3-6.
- Ortega, Bob (1998). In Sam We Trust: The Untold Story of Sam Walton and Wal-Mart, the World's Most Powerful Retailer. ISBN 0-8129-6377-6.
- Peacock, Joe (2005). Mentally Incontinent: A Joe The Peacock Book, The Wal-Mart Story. ISBN 0-9774184-0-5.
- Porter, David (2003). Megamall on the Hudson: Planning, Wal-Mart, and Grassroots Resistance. Trafford. ISBN 1-55369-855-X.
- Quinn, Bill (2005). How Wal-Mart Is Destroying America and the World: And What You Can Do about It (3rd edition). Ten Speed Press. ISBN 1-58008-668-3.
- Slater, Robert (2003). The Wal-Mart Decade: How a New Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy into the World's #1 Company. ISBN 1-59184-006-6.
- Slater, Robert (2004). The Wal-Mart Triumph: Inside the World's #1 Company. ISBN 1-59184-043-0.
- Soderquist, Don (2005). The Wal-Mart Way: The Inside Story of the Success of the World's Largest Company. ISBN 0-7852-6119-2.
- Spotts, Greg (2005). Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. Disinformation Company. ISBN 1-932857-24-9.
- Westerman, Paul (2000). Data Warehousing: Using the Wal-Mart Model. ISBN 1-55860-684-X.
[edit] Documentaries
- Galloway, Ron (Director). (2005) Why Wal-Mart Works: And Why That Drives Some People C-r-a-z-y.
- Greenwald, Robert (Director). (2005) Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.
- Peled, Micha (Director). (2001) Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town.
- Young, Rick (Director). (2004) Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good for America?.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Service employees propose a program for change. Interview with Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, by journalists David Bacon and Philip Maldari on KPFA-FM radio, Berkeley, CA, January 19, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-04-30.
- ^ More Fortunes out of Digits--Is Data Warehousing the Walmarting of the future?. Highly recommended resources by OmegaPoint Network Enterprises, 1999-2005. Retrieved on 2006-04-30.
- ^ First Friday's in Mt Jackson at The Art Group. Shenandoahmusic.com website. Retrieved on 2006-04-30.
- ^ Things to do around EIU. Eastern Illinois University electronic student handbook. Retrieved on 2006-04-30.
