Filed under: Wal-Mart (WMT), Marketing and advertising

Until recently, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) stores have been remarkably similar no matter where you are. The Wal-Mart in my Cape Cod hometown was stacked with western books by writers like Louis L’amour — none of the local bookstores carried them, presumably because the stores that were stocking their shelves based on what customers actually wanted knew there was little demand for westerns in our seaside tourist town.

But now that’s changing. A new Dearborn, Michigan store now stocks 550 items targeted at the town’s 30,000 strong Arab-American community. Dearborn is also home to the Arab American National Museum. The store also sells Arab music, Muslim greeting cards, and has 35 Arabic-speaking employees, and has hired someone to train employees in cultural sensitivity. This stands in nice contrast to the store where a shopper was insulted by a cashier because of her veil.

Competing retailers better look out. For decades, Wal-Mart has been the master of low prices, but other stores have been able to compete with superior service and a better shopping experience. Now Wal-Mart is turning that laser focus to improving the experience and providing more community-focused stores.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 21st, 2008 at 8:10 am and is filed under Marketing and Advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.