The walmarts in my area have quit carrying hand held shopping baskets. At first they claimed, “Sorry they’ve all been stolen”…But a new store just opened and they’ve never had them and aren’t going to get them. Would anyone have a guess as to why they don’t want customers using them anymore? It’s the first thing I look for when I walk in the store and it just sets the tone for the frustrating shopping experience to follow. (Now I go to a checkout carousel and grab a bag or two to go shop with…yes they look at me funny)!
Heh. The WalMart near me offers use of wheeled carts for accumulating ones purchases. They don’t have those?
I don’t know specifically (and I feel bad for being the first responder since I’m not sure), but I would imagine it has something to do with either modification of shopping behavior (you’re less likely to impulse purchase if you have to carry it around but might not mind if it goes in a cart) and workforce reduction (you already have people to get the carts, but can lay off the people that would deal with the baskets).
I don’t want to sound like some paranoid conspiracy type but Walmart being Walmart, everything
they do is planned and studied about the shopping experience, and you know this has to be a decision from the corporate office. But when you only need a few things, AND the baskets have been part of shopping there since the beginning…it seems odd to me they would decide it’s time everyone shop with a cart.
I’ve noticed the normal sized blue baskets becoming fewer and fewer … the other day I found a beige basket that was about 1/4 that size and tried to use it. Ended up overfilling it, dropping some single serving apple sauce “tins”, making a mess… and not feeling the least bit guilty. That’ll teach 'em !!
My guess is that Wal-Mart figures it has acquired enough market share that it can start cutting costs by making the shopping experience less convenient.
This right here. People buy more if they’re using a cart versus a hand basket.
It encourages people to buy more - a similar tactic is to offer the shoppers something heavy or bulky right at the entrance to the store - so for example, siting the produce section there not only looks nice, but if you then reduce the potatoes to an irresistible price, people will go back and get a cart - and once they get a cart, they’re more likely to fill it.
Psychology is certainly believable but I do find it logical that people steal them. The Walmart near me has locks on the cart wheels to prevent them from being stolen, so I find it believable people would steal hand baskets too, and you can’t put a lock on those.
You can put the electronic security tag on a basket though.
My local WalMart has a variable number of hand baskets. At a time when there were few, I asked the “greeter” why, and was told that they are regularly stolen, especially at the beginning of a school term (this area has a large junior college). He said they routinely order more, but have trouble keeping up.
I doubt it’s a theft issue; our local Wal-Marts quit having the handbaskets a couple of years ago, yet all the other grocery stores, big box stores like Home Depot, and other discount stores like Target all retained them.
My suspicion is that they think kind of how I do; if I’m going in for one or two specific items and don’t want to get a lot of impulse buy stuff, I don’t get a cart at all. If I’m getting a few things but plan on browsing, I’ll get a handbasket. If I get a cart, then I’m not only able to get larger things, but pack it full of more $1-$5 items than I’d otherwise be able to cram into a handbasket comfortably.
I do notice that I spend more at Wal-Mart without the handbaskets than I do at Target with them, and I think it’s definitely because of the ability to just toss crap into the basket and not have to lug it around the store.
If it’s really true that all the baskets have been stolen from all the other Walmarts in the area, it seems logical that they wouldn’t buy any for the new store because they figure they’d all get stolen right away anyway.
The theory that “forcing” people to use wheeled carts encourages them to buy more sounds plausible, but it can backfire: if I’m just grabbing a couple of things, I’ll just carry them, and having a basket enables me to buy more than I can comfortably hold in my hands.
I’m not surprised they look at you funny. Having your items in a bag makes it look like they’ve already been paid for. Shopping that way makes it looks like you’re planning to walk out without paying, or at least makes it harder to see whether or not you’re doing so.
I would think the gain of people filling their shopping carts to the brim far outweighs the loss of people who would’ve otherwise filled their handbaskets to the brim.
When asked, two of the stores have said the baskets have all been stolen. I’m not buying this as they have those receipt checker clerks at the exit checking your purchase. What? They just let the baskets go out the door? Doubtful. The store that just opened was honest at least and flat out said,
“no baskets and it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting them either”
That’s exactly right.
And no, you’re not paranoid - companies like Walmart store millions of records of customer behaviour in big data warehouses, analyze trends and define scenarios under which ideas are being discussed on how to increase 5, 10 or even 20% same point sales/revenue period over period.
This move seems to improve two-fold – 1st you don’t have to worry about hand-held baskets so expenses will be reduced and 2nd having a cart is an inducement (like a déjà vu effect) that should increase the amount of stuff you planned to buy.
Like I said earlier, now I just take a couple of bags from a checkout carousel and go shopping. I have got some curious looks but so far no one has said anything about it. If they do I’ll say, "couldn’t find any handbaskets…looks like you need to order more"since their excuse seems to be the baskets are being stolen.
Walmart said to hell with them, where evidently there’s a use.
I’d question the psychological theory. I think many shoppers go into WalMart with the intent of buying “just one thing” so they’re not going to take a wheeled cart. If you had a handbasket, it would be easy to add a few extra unplanned items. Not having one makes it more convenient to stick to your original plan.
My local WalMart still has handbaskets. I don’t know if that’s a sign that we’re an unusually honest town. Perhaps WalMart is just testing the idea to see if removing handbaskets increases or decreases sales.