# how cost-efficient is the Walmart way vs smaller shopkeepers specifically in the area of retail? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cost-efficient-is-the-walmart-way-vs-smaller-shopkeepers-specifically-in-the-area-of-retail/574459 "2011-03-12T22:55:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cost-efficient-is-the-walmart-way-vs-smaller-shopkeepers-specifically-in-the-area-of-retail/574459/21 "2011-03-13T18:40:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, it’s clearly been a while since I’ve been to Wal-Mart (or maybe the one around here is just a small one)… I didn’t even realize they _had_ half those departments. Of course, that also increases the number of separate stores that they obsolete. The only new departments would be Money Center (about a year old) and Connection Center (6+ years old). Even a Division 1 store (no grocery) has everything listed except for deli and bakery, and has had them for 20 or more years. There are a lot of “invisible” positions at a Wal-Mart, which a lot of people overlook. You see/estimate 20 people working at a given time? There are probably 40-60 more working behind the scenes to keep things running. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cost-efficient-is-the-walmart-way-vs-smaller-shopkeepers-specifically-in-the-area-of-retail/574459/22 "2011-03-13T19:06:37Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > you can do all that at a Euorpean street market. It may not all be under one roof You’ll pay more, though. A _lot_ more. Americans tend to be bargain shoppers - it’s fine if you aren’t, but it’s part of the culture. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cost-efficient-is-the-walmart-way-vs-smaller-shopkeepers-specifically-in-the-area-of-retail/574459/23 "2011-03-13T19:29:53Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > You’ll pay more, though. A _lot_ more. Americans tend to be bargain shoppers - it’s fine if you aren’t, but it’s part of the culture. Really? My experience tends to be the opposite; Americans just accept the price on the tag, whereas Europeans aren’t afraid to bargain. You can’t really haggle at Wal-Mart the way you can with a market vendor. As others have mentioned upthread, Wal-Mart tends to be the cheapest for the most popular goods, but can be much more expensive for the others. In a market with so many stalls selling similar items, I’d imagine that competition would drive down the prices for everything, not just the staples. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cost-efficient-is-the-walmart-way-vs-smaller-shopkeepers-specifically-in-the-area-of-retail/574459/24 "2011-03-13T20:01:37Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Really? My experience tends to be the opposite; Americans just accept the price on the tag, whereas Europeans aren’t afraid to bargain. You can’t really haggle at Wal-Mart the way you can with a market vendor. As others have mentioned upthread, Wal-Mart tends to be the cheapest for the most popular goods, but can be much more expensive for the others. In a market with so many stalls selling similar items, I’d imagine that competition would drive down the prices for everything, not just the staples. In my experience in Europe there is virtually nowhere that you can buy stuff even close to as cheap as it is sold in the U.S. Haggling also takes time, which is something people in America value a lot more than in Europe. The person you were quoting also said “Saturday afternoon” and in my experience in Europe anytime after 2 PM it gets dicey buying anything, especially on a weekend. Hell, for some staples there’s no where in the entire world you can buy them at the same _consistently low_ price as you can at Wal-Mart or similar stores. For example I’ve seen bottled water going for more in Africa than it costs in a Manhattan rave filled with people doing E. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cost-efficient-is-the-walmart-way-vs-smaller-shopkeepers-specifically-in-the-area-of-retail/574459/25 "2011-03-13T20:26:02Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Possibly excepting the tires and oil change (which a lot of people here don’t need here anyway, due to better public transportation), you can do all that at a Euorpean street market. It may not all be under one roof, but the total distance you need to walk will be about the same as if you had selected everything from Wal-Mart. The market down the street from where I live has butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers, pharmacies, DVD sellers, electrical merchants, barbers, and banks within fifty metres of each other. (Of course, once you walk fifty metres, you’ve got another set of the same shops.) I suppose if you’re in a hurry, the advantage of Wal-Mart is that for the goods you need to visit the checkout only once, whereas at the market you’ve got to pay several times. How’s that market look when there is a rush on snow shovels and snow blowers in winter storms, and then a rush for fans and a/c units in summer heat waves? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cost-efficient-is-the-walmart-way-vs-smaller-shopkeepers-specifically-in-the-area-of-retail/574459/26 "2011-03-13T20:37:14Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > How’s that market look when there is a rush on snow shovels and snow blowers in winter storms, and then a rush for fans and a/c units in summer heat waves? I wouldn’t know, as I’ve never lived anywhere in Europe where snow blowers and air conditioning units are commonly used. I suspect that such items aren’t commonly sold in markets, but rather in big-box home improvement stores. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cost-efficient-is-the-walmart-way-vs-smaller-shopkeepers-specifically-in-the-area-of-retail/574459/27 "2011-03-13T20:46:01Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > In my experience in Europe there is virtually nowhere that you can buy stuff even close to as cheap as it is sold in the U.S. That statement’s virtually meaningless without further elaboration. For example, what “stuff” are you talking about? Where in Europe and the US are you talking about? (Prices can vary greatly from country to country, and even within countries.) Are you considering just the good’s numerical price, or also taking into account purchasing power of the consumers? Comparisons of the prices of various goods around the world are readily available on the Internet, and a few seconds of Googling will show that plenty of “stuff” is cheaper in Europe than in North America, while other “stuff” is more expensive, while still other “stuff” costs the same. ---
**Author:** ![FasterThanMeerkats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@FasterThanMeerkats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FasterThanMeerkats)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cost-efficient-is-the-walmart-way-vs-smaller-shopkeepers-specifically-in-the-area-of-retail/574459/28 "2011-03-14T16:45:36Z")
As a slightly different shade of Walmart’s efficiencies, it’s not just the systems where Walmart has the advantage, it’s the people as well. Walmart can afford to have top talent (MBA’s, CPA’s, JD’s) managing it’s portfolio of products, supply chain, financings, contracts, and everything else necessary to maximize the return on its stores. Mom and Pops have to do all that themselves without the adequate time or education to do it optimally. Hiring an educated workforce seems expensive, but they more than pay for themselves, especially when you can scale their efficiencies across hundreds of stores. The efficiencies can then be split with the customer in the form of lower prices or retained by the company, depending on the optimal supply/demand mix. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cost-efficient-is-the-walmart-way-vs-smaller-shopkeepers-specifically-in-the-area-of-retail/574459/29 "2011-03-15T20:41:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Another economy of scale comes in the employees. At a Walmart store, you’ll have what, maybe ten cashiers on duty? Then a greeter, maybe two or three folks at the specialty counters (jewelry, electronics, etc.), and the same number walking the floor to help out customers, and a manager and assistant manager at the customer service desk for when problems come up. All told, you’ve got less than 20 people there, most of them unskilled and making minimum wage. Meanwhile, to replace that Wal-Mart, you’d probably need about 20 mom-and-pop stores, each one of which will have 2 or 3 people working, and half of them managers (who need to be paid more). So the small stores will need to pay a lot more in salary to move the same amount of product. You’re off by at least 50-60 people. I know some people that work for a supercenter, and they claim there’s nearly 400 employees that work there (all shifts). StudentDriver, you’re missing meat, grocery, dairy, and sporting goods, all of which have 2 or more employees… [QUOTE=jtgain] \*anecdote alert: I’ve heard that the Wal-Mart computers track the weather. For example, if a huge snowfall is going to hit the Buffalo area, the computer increases supply of snow shovels, salt, kerosene heaters, winter coats, etc. to all of its Buffalo and surrounding stores based on past sales when the weather was like it is projected to be. All done by computer with no human intervention required. [/QUOTE] MY walmart (Pittsburgh area) frequently runs out of snow shovels and salt during snowstorms. So I seriously doubt if this is true. Especially given the unpredictability of the weather (storms can shift course and miss an area entirely, etc), I can’t imagine them tying an order inventory system to something as inaccurate as weather reports. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cost-efficient-is-the-walmart-way-vs-smaller-shopkeepers-specifically-in-the-area-of-retail/574459.md?page=1)