Just saw this on the Fast Company website. Looks like Wal-Mart has fallen for the lie that appealing to the “hip” and “trendy” homosexual community is the way to increase sales.
There’s been a lot happening with Wal-Mart lately. Last week, Advertising Age reported that in the company’s attempt “to broaden its appeal and woo both upscale and urban markets” it has “hired a gay-marketing shop, joined the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and begun discussions with activist groups about extending domestic-partnership benefits to its employees.”
Wal-Mart has lost market share to the likes of Target because the Wal-Mart stores are becoming more crowded, they are appearing more aged, much of the goods they carry seem to be 2nd tier in quality, and, overall, it’s just not a pleasant shopping experience.
Target, on the other hand, has wide aisles with a great selection of high quality products. Take the Thomas O’Brien collection of items, for instance, or the Michael Graves collection. That’s really good design on the cheap!
Now, I’m sure Target is a member already in all these gay and lesbian groups, so they’re no better than Wal-Mart there. But come on Wal-Mart, whatever happened to you being the family friendly store that stuck up for family values? Oh yeah, there’s that falling stock price thing you have to deal with. We drop kicked our Wal-Mart shares years ago, opting for Target shares. They’ve treated us well.
Get a clue Wal-Mart. It’s all in the customer experience, not what the back office does!
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