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Posted
Dec 28 2007, 11:15 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Wal-Mart has canceled its online video download service, blaming HP for discontinuing the technology behind it. What a lame excuse. If the Wal-Mart video store was doing well, do you think HP would yank the engine powering it?
The reality is that few people used it. Those who did were not impressed. On paper, the service sounded great. All the major movie studios participated. New releases cost up to $20, and older films sold for as much as $10. TV shows were available the day after they aired for $2. Wal-Mart claimed it would only take 45 minutes to download a "near-DVD" video using a high-speed connection.
So why didn't it work? According to HP, the market for paid video downloads didn't perform as well as it had expected. I think Wal-Mart is having a tough time figuring out its online strategy. Does anyone remember "The Hub," the retailer's attempt at social networking? Shut down after 10 weeks, the site was supposed to be a place where teens could upload photos and videos and talk about Wal-Mart products.
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Posted
Jun 04 2009, 03:37 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Many big-box retailers, including Best Buy (BBY), Target (TGT), and Costco (COST), are struggling as the recession beats down their same-store sales. General retailers such as Sears (SHLD) are not faring any better. That means that the layoffs in the retail industry, which have already been extensive, are likely to continue, especially if the 2009 holiday season is weak.
Wal-Mart (WMT) is at the other end of the spectrum, by itself. The world’s largest retailer says it will add 22,000 jobs at its U.S. stores this year. That is down slightly from 2008, but in an economy that is forcing hundreds of thousands of people out of work each month, it is extremely impressive.
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Posted
Dec 18 2007, 08:52 AM
by
Robert Walberg
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Remember when it was cool to own/buy a Dell computer? Not that long ago it was Dell, not Apple, that had the laid back young kid starring in commercials that resonated with consumers. "Dude, it's a Dell," was the stuff of genius. Dell's were cool, they were cheap and they were everywhere.
Yet in little less than five years Dell has gone from cool to ice cold. Its share of the PC market has eroded due to misguided retail practices, poor customer service and outdated design. The company has also lost its price advantage. Despite the cheap prices you see on the company's web site, or in the flyers that arrive in the mail, once you configure the computer to match even the most basic of needs, the price ends up being as high or higher as PCs from Toshiba, Hewlett Packard and Acer.
Quite simply there's nothing that sets the company apart anymore -- at least nothing positive. Its abysmal technical service group certainly set it apart, as waiting on the Dell help desk was an exercise bordering on cruelty. To its credit, Dell's management team has begun to address this issue by adding staff, but once you get a bad reputation it can be very hard to change consumer perceptions. Dell has a lot of making up to do and some blunt talk from its back-in-the-saddle CEO, Michael Dell, just might help remake its image. Let's face it, Apple was left for dead a few years back and look at what the return of Steve Jobs did for that company.
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Posted
Aug 06 2009, 03:16 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Wal-Mart (WMT) has been called a lot of things, but Destroyer of Girl Scout Funding isn't one of them.
Until now.
One woman who spent years as "Cookie Mom" for her daughter's troop says Wal-Mart is copying two of the most popular Girl Scout cookies -- Thin Mints (pictured) and Tagalongs -- to sell under its own private label. The woman, a scholar and consultant named C.V. Harquail, says Wal-Mart is testing its Girl Scout knockoffs in limited release under the Great Value brand.
"Wal-mart can sell all the hunting equipment, cheap plastic gizmos and clothes made in sweatshops that it wants to sell," Harquail writes on her blog. "But why must they encroach upon the market of a non-profit? Why do they have to go after the Girl Scouts?"
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Posted
May 15 2009, 03:36 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
McDonald’s (MCD) did so well with its dollar menu that Wal-Mart (WMT) decided it will create one, too. The difference is that the Wal-Mart version will be merchandise and not food.
McDonald’s philosophy of selling very inexpensive food in a clean, well-lit environment served by consistently friendly people has helped it expand its operations to 36,000 stores worldwide. Wal-Mart’s approach to retail stores is not terribly different. It may not be entirely coincidental that Wal-Mart was started in 1962 and McDonald’s began in 1955.
Millions of relatively young people, most of them parents, were only a decade removed from serving their country and not being paid a great deal for that service. It was a perfect environment for consumers to believe that something could be inexpensive and a good value at the same time
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Posted
Feb 27 2008, 06:53 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Apple's iTunes store has surpassed Best Buy to become the #2 music retailer in the country, second only to Wal-Mart in sales. And an analyst from the NPD Group, which tracks these sorts of things, said that Apple is on track to catch Wal-Mart this year. Apple shares dipped less than a percentage point yesterday to close at $119.15. Best Buy shares rose 3% to $46.50, and Wal-Mart shares rose 2% to $51.40.
This news says much about the way we consume music. NPD notes that 1 million people stopped buying CDs last year, a trend most apparent in young people. In 2007, 48% of teens didn't buy a single CD -- up from 38% in 2006. So retailers like Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target -- who mainly sell physical CDs -- are going to see music sales slide. But what does the news say about Apple? Is the rise to No. 2 a result of its own sales savvy, or is iTunes the lucky beneficiary of the CD's decline? A closer look at the numbers sheds a little more light.
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Posted
Apr 23 2008, 05:45 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Shades of World War II: Two warehouse-type retail chains in the United States are rationing rice as anxious customers stock up because of a worldwide shortage. It's the most startling sign that the world food crisis is making itself felt in the United States. But, despite rising food prices here, we've still got it good compared with some developing countries, where food shortages and price hikes have sparked deadly riots.
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Posted
Jun 23 2008, 05:41 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Filed under: Citigroup, Sprint, Wal-Mart, Intel, AMD, AT&T, Starbucks, Target, Sears, IBM, Costco, Sun Microsystems
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
With the trading year almost half over and results from the first quarter out, 24/7 Wall Street has created the latest installment of its Ten Worst Managed Companies In America list. This is a companion piece to the "CEO of the Year" list and "Large Companies that May Disappear" series.
This analysis is based on: 1) one-year and five-year stock performance relative to the major indexes and other companies in the industry, 2) the company's position in its industry both now and over the last five years, 3) whether management made identifiable and critical decisions which hurt the company, 4) a change in the company's relative market strength compared to its competition, and 5) whether the company could have identified mistakes and changed course quickly enough to avoid a catastrophe.
Some readers will think it is not fair to include companies which have had a recent
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Posted
Mar 13 2009, 10:39 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Retail giant Wal-Mart (WMT) will open its first Hispanic-focused supermarkets this summer in Arizona and Texas. The stores will feature Spanish speaking staff and new layouts, products, and signage that will be "relevant to local Hispanic customers."
The stores, dubbed Supermercado de Walmart, will appear in converted Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market stores in Phoenix and Houston. Separately, the company also plans on converting a Sam's Club warehouse into a Hispanic-themed Más Club.
Some of this reflects Wal-Mart's U.S. stores chief Eduardo Castro-Wright's previous experience in the company's Mexican subsidiary. But it also reflects the realization that by 2042, according to the Census Bureau, ethnic and racial minorities will represent a majority of the U.S. population. So instead of apple pies and hamburger buns; get ready for Latino pastries and tortillas.
Now that the sales boost from penny-pinching consumers is peaking, it's nice to see the company ramping up capital investment plans in search of new sources of growth. Prior to the recession,
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Posted
Mar 28 2008, 02:47 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
How does positive-thinking blogger Steve Olson really feel about Wal-Mart? A positive-thinking tip in one of the most popular posts at his site is "Visit Target frequently and stay out of Wal-Mart." He's not the only blogger to share his opinion on the big-box titans. Several lately have posted comparisons of the two stores. Steve, of Steve-Olson.com, back in 2006 listed 10 reasons why he prefers Target, including "I've never seen anyone wearing a NASCAR shirt, purple sweat pants, and pink fluffy slippers at Target." Also, the aisles at Wal-Mart are too narrow, the employees are surly and not helpful, and the customers look depressed. (Read his anecdote about shopping for a lunch box at both stores.) He added: "Wal-Mart's atmosphere is cheap and crass. Target's atmosphere exudes progress and style."
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