Something interesting about Wal-Mart

[alwaysone]

Sometimes when you're talking with someone and they tell you something you just have to stop for a second and apply a little logic. Do you really think anyone EVER gives WalMart a lower quality version of their product.

I just left a job at a food and beverage plant and our three largest customers were Walmart (& Sams), McDonalds and Target. Whenever we were making runs that were headed to these three companies, everyone was hyper aware of it. And by this fact alone, they probably get a product with a slightly higher quality. We didn't always know where the product was headed but sometimes you can tell, because its in a configuration or packaging that make its obvious where it is headed to. Perhaps, knife production is not the same, I do not know.

You see, WalMart is the KING. If they come to you and say, "Hey, we'd like to sell some of your knives..." That knife company will do just about anything to get that business. Another misconception about Walmart is that because they have low prices, they are poorly run. It's quite the contrary. They came to our plant every 3 months, with oodles and oodles of information, charts, demographic studies, quality studies, shelf space studies, cost analysis, etc. And would basically tell us, this is what you need to do different to keep us as a customer.

When Walmart came to us and said "We'd like this product but in this configuration" we NEVER said "Well, we can't run that configuration" Instead we said "We'll get back to you shortly once we figure out HOW we're going to make that happen for you." The mom and pop grocery chains did not get the same answer.

Trust me no one would ever give a lower quality version of their product to Walmart. Talk about business suicide.

 

[The Government]

Sometimes when you're talking with someone and they tell you something you just have to stop for a second and apply a little logic. Do you really think anyone EVER gives WalMart a lower quality version of their product.

I just left a job at a food and beverage plant and our three largest customers were Walmart (& Sams), McDonalds and Target. Whenever we were making runs that were headed to these three companies, everyone was hyper aware of it. And by this fact alone, they probably get a product with a slightly higher quality. We didn't always know where the product was headed but sometimes you can tell, because its in a configuration or packaging that make its obvious where it is headed to. Perhaps, knife production is not the same, I do not know.

You see, WalMart is the KING. If they come to you and say, "Hey, we'd like to sell some of your knives..." That knife company will do just about anything to get that business. Another misconception about Walmart is that because they have low prices, they are poorly run. It's quite the contrary. They came to our plant every 3 months, with oodles and oodles of information, charts, demographic studies, quality studies, shelf space studies, cost analysis, etc. And would basically tell us, this is what you need to do different to keep us as a customer.

When Walmart came to us and said "We'd like this product but in this configuration" we NEVER said "Well, we can't run that configuration" Instead we said "We'll get back to you shortly once we figure out HOW we're going to make that happen for you." The mom and pop grocery chains did not get the same answer.

Trust me no one would ever give a lower quality version of their product to Walmart. Talk about business suicide.

exactly.:thumbup:

thanks for the example.

 

[GregY]

You see, WalMart is the KING. If they come to you and say, "Hey, we'd like to sell some of your knives..." That knife company will do just about anything to get that business. Another misconception about Walmart is that because they have low prices, they are poorly run. It's quite the contrary. They came to our plant every 3 months, with oodles and oodles of information, charts, demographic studies, quality studies, shelf space studies, cost analysis, etc. And would basically tell us, this is what you need to do different to keep us as a customer.

I work in IT. At my last job, part of what my group did involved interaction with Wal-Mart. They're *very* good, and have very high standards.

When Walmart came to us and said "We'd like this product but in this configuration" we NEVER said "Well, we can't run that configuration" Instead we said "We'll get back to you shortly once we figure out HOW we're going to make that happen for you." The mom and pop grocery chains did not get the same answer.

Trust me no one would ever give a lower quality version of their product to Walmart. Talk about business suicide.

Ah, thanks for making that point. I tried to say that, but did a lousy job. I'll try again.

Nobody would make a lower quality product for Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart definitely can convince people (and those people would be generally inclined to listen) to offer lower COST products with somewhat different features.

 

[Psychopomp]

I worked at Walmart for a few months recently just to put food on the table until I found a better job about a month ago. I was scared going in because of all the horror stories I had heard, but had the money been better, I would have been happy to stay.

Aside from some of the BS propaganda videos they show on the first day, it was a very well run, well kept place with great management. This was a store that pulled in $400k+ a day, but it was a very friendly, though very fast paced, environment.

I never saw anything but the highest quality product for the price in any department.

I won't say that I'm a big fan of Walmart, but that experience gave me a new perspective and some respect for the place.

The store I worked in had a very nice knife selection and most models came in boxes.

 

[einsteinjon]

I know this post is not knife-related, so I apologize, but I worked at a Wal-Mart for awhile a few years back and thought it pertinent to chime in...specifically about electronics or other fragile/breakable merchandise.

I was a cashier, but being the big boy that I am, I was asked on many occasions to help unload trucks in receiving. While the TVs, DVD players, computers may or may not be identical to other stores (I don't know), the handling of them at my particular store was terrible. There would be computer boxes with several cases of water stacked on top. There would be a pile of 3 or so DVD players that looked like they had been stacked on top of each other, but were loose enough that the top box fell off during transport and was laying haphazardly in another location in the truck. The "conveyor belt" used for unloading is just rollers, so it requires manual force to move the line of products along. Many, many times I saw electronic equipment (a specific case of a digital camera comes to mind) fall off the belt onto the concrete floor. It just gets picked back up and moved along. Yes it is packaged in a box, likely with styrofoam, but I wouldn't want to buy it after that.

Even if your particular area Wal-Mart has the top of the line receiving department, more than just my Wal-Mart would have ended up with truckloads of these poorly loaded products. And yes, it is very possible that these conditions occur in other stores besides Wally, but I have no knowledge of them. With a place like Wal-Mart that has a pallet of 50# bags of dog food loaded in a truck next to a couple flat panel TVs, you have to wonder...

Again, my apologies that this isn't knife related, but I'm sure someone may get some use out of this. I don't mean to trash Wal-Mart, but it is for this reason that I never buy electronics, fragile items, etc. from them.

 

[JD Mandrell]

For years, its been a rumor that Buck 110's at Wal Mart were somehow lower quality than other stores, so early in 2008, I bought a 110 from Wal Mart, Gander Mountain and Dick's Sporting Goods within a 2 week period, all were 2008 manufacture, and there is absolutely no difference in the knives at all.

The Wal Mart 110, does come with a nylon sheath, whereas the others had leather, but the knives were 100% the same.

 

[mean]

I have worked for wally world and shopped it my whole life, there is some truth and some not to all of these posts, take this for example, lets just say kershaw for instance, walmart can cut the price on these knives by $1 each by ordering mass quanities, whereas, lets say mossberg 12ga shotgun, I have purchased a mossberg from walmart it ran around $240, I have also purchased the same make and model from sports autority for around $400, now while there is an extreme diffrence in price, there is also an extreme diffrence in quality, the wally world one has a dull finished stock, the bluing is not as dark and the metal work has some burrs, the sports autority one is a showroom version that has had alot of qc work done to it, so yes there is some truth to the posts that on certain items walmart does sell a cheaper version, but on low value items such as a $30 knife, I don't think it would be profitable for them, however look at dealers such as oldtimer, winchester knives, there all made in china, while alot of knife noobs remember their grandpaw's carring these knives, they purchase them at premium prices and they are not aware that these aren't the same quality products that their grandpaws were toten in their pockets! anyway that my 2cents.

 

[Dekz]

I'll just speak for Kershaw, but we don't build Wal-Mart knives any differently than any other.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but you DO have some products that are Wal-Mart-only right?

I'm not saying that that is the same thing, but just wanted to be clear.

 

[Cobb1129]

For years, its been a rumor that Buck 110's at Wal Mart were somehow lower quality than other stores, so early in 2008, I bought a 110 from Wal Mart, Gander Mountain and Dick's Sporting Goods within a 2 week period, all were 2008 manufacture, and there is absolutely no difference in the knives at all.

The Wal Mart 110, does come with a nylon sheath, whereas the others had leather, but the knives were 100% the same.

That was the story I was referencing to.

I was there looking at different knives for quite some time and they had a really good collection, and they had a good mix of high and low quality knives (ranging from 9dollars-60ish). I might go back and buy one or two here in a bit, and I didn't post this due to any negative connotations that I had. Just something interesting I heard.

The guy there knew his stuff too, I'd defanitley purchase knives from them.

 

[Thomas W]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but you DO have some products that are Wal-Mart-only right?

I'm not saying that that is the same thing, but just wanted to be clear.

We have one knife (2445ST) that is in WM that was too late for us to put in the 2009 catalog. It will make its debut in the upcoming 2010 catalog. Other than that, their offerings are all cataloged items.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

That's this guy, right?

Looks pretty spiffy! But it's listed under the name "Barrage." Any trouble with that given the Benchmade of the same name?

 

[Thomas W]

But it's listed under the name "Barrage." Any trouble with that given the Benchmade of the same name?

That's the one. The Barrage was the name we gave this piece. We'll see if it sticks. When the 2010 catalog hits, we'll know for sure.

 

[fudo]

I have worked for wally world and shopped it my whole life, there is some truth and some not to all of these posts, take this for example, lets just say kershaw for instance, walmart can cut the price on these knives by $1 each by ordering mass quanities, whereas, lets say mossberg 12ga shotgun, I have purchased a mossberg from walmart it ran around $240, I have also purchased the same make and model from sports autority for around $400, now while there is an extreme diffrence in price, there is also an extreme diffrence in quality, the wally world one has a dull finished stock, the bluing is not as dark and the metal work has some burrs, the sports autority one is a showroom version that has had alot of qc work done to it, so yes there is some truth to the posts that on certain items walmart does sell a cheaper version, but on low value items such as a $30 knife, I don't think it would be profitable for them, however look at dealers such as oldtimer, winchester knives, there all made in china, while alot of knife noobs remember their grandpaw's carring these knives, they purchase them at premium prices and they are not aware that these aren't the same quality products that their grandpaws were toten in their pockets! anyway that my 2cents.

I know that Remington 870 shotguns sold at Wally-World are built differently (not in a good way) from ones sold in other stores. My gunsmith told me that he can look inside and tell you which ones come from Wally-World.

 

[The Mastiff]

I know that Remington 870 shotguns sold at Wally-World are built differently (not in a good way) from ones sold in other stores. My gunsmith told me that he can look inside and tell you which ones come from Wally-World.

Remington makes discount versions of their 870 shotguns, like they do their rifles. It's not strictly a wal mart thing though. It's mainly cheaper and smaller springs ( magazine tube, not anything in the trigger group) with not much else besides a less expensive surface finish. I forget the designations of the different models, it's been about 10 years since armorers school.

You can order the springs and such to upgrade if it bothers you to have them. They are drop in parts.

 

[cj65]

I used to sell to Wal Mart a line of live goods (fruit trees) grown in So Cal and shipped to all over CA, NV, and AZ. The buyers at Wal Mart hold you to the performance of your product in their stores. Thomas from Kershaw knows what Retail Link is, or at least one of his admin personnel does. It is supply chain driven. Wal-mart wants you to offer them an exclusive item annually (not price comparable to another mass merchant, so you can protect some profit margin). Every year, you fly to Bentonville and they review your profit report which is how well you did for Wal Mart. They tell you (at least when I did it) that even though you hit your 10% increase in sales over last year, hit your gross profit margins, and kept your shrinkage to a minimum, you still could not get a cost increase. This meant that giving cost of living raises to well deserved employees to the vendor was compromised. If a company becomes too overly dependent on Wal Mart for their sales, they eventually are squeezed on the request from the buyer, "How can you make your items cheaper?" They want to offer the lowest prices to their customers, and they build up their vendors into a production machine and then slowly but surely squeeze the profitability right out of the vendor. You may be wondering what happened to Rubbermaid? The vendor is faced with a few options;hold their ground (sounds like Kershaw is-way to go!) conform, or eventually be replaced with someone who does what they want. It was an interesting job. I loved the annual visit to the Quail Barn for the national vendor meeting- imagine fascist redneck dictators barking orders at their vendor subjects on how to grow plants for them. All in all, Wal Mart loves to have name brand products built cheaper so they can keep their margins high. Just so you know, that is not a Wal Mart exclusive, it is indicative of all the mass merchants. It is what I did for 7 yrs, key account sales to the big boxes. It put some grey hairs in my beard.

 

[wwells20]

i seem to remember walmart doing that same thing to Valasic (as in pickles), almost put out of business. Best thing Kershaw could do is get away from walmart. I also don't see them restocking the Kershaws that were hanging on the display, could just be a timing thing, but it's been a long time for them to be out of product. "just saying"

 

[tirod3]

I bought a HDTV from Walmart before Xmas precisely because it was a special run model. The product ID was a designated "big box" loss leader for Black Friday sales specials. It is as suggested, slightly "decontented." A few less bells and whistles, like no screen in a screen, or such. Saved $300 dollars, I still don't see that level of size or quality at the price on the market.

Checking the model number prior to the sale, and on HDTV forums after, it was also sold by Sears, Best Buy, and others. They ALL got it, not just Walmart, but it was WW who had them in stock locally that morning.

At one time this town had the largest WW in the chain, and the area has 5 supercenters in a 25 mile radius, three in town. But none carry Spyderco. The first rule of buying still exists - you have to shop it. It's NOT always the low price guaranteed if they don't stock it at all - and if you shop it, you can find it cheaper.

We've had Walmarts in this town since the '70's, third gen construction/location on most, you learn how they operate and what they really have.

Special products? Some - yes. But it's a game of buying the product that sells better on the shelf position in that demographic region, or as a loss leader to pump up a promotion so you do all your shopping there. And that is where they make bucks, as the next price tier of goods is NOT the lowest priced in the market.

Walmart knows that stuff because they have marketing numbers crunchers in secure locations printing out results. I mean secure because the unit in Jane, MO, about 30 minutes drive from HQs, has more wire and concertina than most local jails. These people make recommendations to move a product from one shelf to another because they can guarantee it will make $X more annually - and then negotiate a better price because the overall volume will be higher for the maker.

Yes, on the other hand, you have the Vlasic pickle situation - and some small manufacturers are aware they are better off not selling to Walmart - or any large chain that makes them completely dependent on a single buyer.

 

[fudo]

I never heard the word "decontented" , but it seems synonymous with "cheaper" and "not up to the standards of the original." This is,I think, one of the main points of this discussion.