Wal-mart stores are large in area, usually constructed as part of shopping malls in low-density suburban centres. The stores contain a broad range of products, from clothes through consumer electronics, outdoor equipment, toys, hardware, and books, as well as many other lines. Staffing is low, with most purchases simply being brought to supermarket-style cashier lanes on shopping trolleys, and the expertise of the staff in the products they sell is generally minimal. The products it sells are usually basic, mass-market equipment rather than premium products stocked at specialist stores.
The key to Wal-mart's success is the economies of scale it brings to manufacturing and logistics, buying massive quantities of items from its suppliers and with a very efficient stock control system to make logistics costs lower than its competitors. As well as this, its sheer size gives it the ability to discount, selling at a loss until competitors run out of resources, at which point its monopoly position allows it to raise prices above what they originally were . It is regularly accused of such tactics (which are illegal in some jurisdictions), and is disliked by others because the homogeneity in retailing it symbolises. Others refute the figures, stating that Wal-mart's prices remain low even where it has a monopoly, and view the complaints about homogeneity as impractical sentimentality.
It is just a fair game in all competitive business, the company that can provide the best products to the consumers at the lowest price is the winner. However, there were some TV investigative program such as 20/20 or Date Line which did a special report on the unfair practice of Wal-Mart some time ago. The reporter found out the way that Wal-Mart did business is to open a store close to some town in the suburb which drives the local home-town stores out of business. And then they abandon site and move to another town. So instead of opening one store per town, they move through the area like a tornado to dry up all the businesses in the region, then they settle with one store serving multiple towns in the region. The TV report showed the trail of the abandon sites that Wal-Mart has gone through and the devestiation it left behind. The town people were happy when the new store opened 5 miles away, then after all the local businesses closed down and Wal-Mart moved away, they have to drive 75 miles to get to the nearest Wal-Mart store. Basically, the complaint is not about the presence of the Wal-Mart stores nor the merchandises it sells at low prices, but about the way the company's business tactic/strategy to force local businesses out of competition and then move away. This phenomonon does not affect major metropolitan area such as the San Francisco Bay Area where there is one Wal-Mart store every 10 miles (please excuse the exaggeration). But in other area of the United States, local economy suffered major hit because of Wal-Mart's business practice. If someone still remember that TV program, please give some pointer to its transcript.
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