Per the attached article Wal-Mart is striving to be a hipper, more upscale place to shop. In looking at this goal and the real world “beat the vendor half to death on price” nature of Wal-Mart I really do have to wonder is this is even possible.
Wouldn’t clothing and housewares manufacturers with a perceived aesthetic cachet lose some element of desirability simply be being sold in Wal-Mart? Are high(er) fashion vendors willing to be bludgeoned on price like the typical Wal-Mart venfor?
The New York Times recently had an article entitled How Costco Became the Anti-Walmart focusing on Costco’s better wages and benefits for employees, and higher quality items that appeal to the upscale market. Costco’s chief executive seemed well-aware of the dangers of inching up from the lower market to be eaten up at both ends in the middle market.
The only clothing I buy from Wal-Mart is-- well nothing. I usually go to Target for even basic tees- their stuff is made of higher quality, is the same price, and is more tailored.
Most Wal-Mart clothes just scream- MOM! And their “young” clothes look cheap (yes, I know they ARE cheap, but see Target. Target makes cheap clothing that looks to be worth more than it is).
If they classed up their clothing, I still wouldn’t shop there. I hate Wal-Mart. I get a headache every. single. time. I go to Wal-Mart.
On the other hand, I know many people who do shop at Wal-Mart. So, economically, they could make good money selling cheap, “hip” clothes. Once again, works for Target.
As for Wal-Mart- I won’t know if stuff I buy elsewhere is also sold at Wal-Mart, because I almost never shop at Wal-Mart. So it won’t matter one way or the other to me.
Why not? It’s not as though Target is inherently hip; when it began, Target was no more hip than Wal-Mart or any other big box retail store. They intentionally cultivated a hipper image by stocking things like Michael Graves-designed housewares and Mossimo and Merona clothing - stuff that’s still absurdly cheap, but actually looks as good as comparable stuff from the Gap (or even J. Crew).
The difference is, as the article says, Wal-Mart has always put prices first, and while that allows them to offer you a $.30 soap dish, people are far less willing to skimp when it comes to personal appearance than they are housewares or utilitarian devices. Wal-Mart may be able to offer you a shirt for $4, but when it’s a polo shirt where the sleeves are plaid, the body is striped, the collar is purple, and it zips instead of buttons (and this description is actually pretty charitable compared to some of the abominations that I saw while working at Wal-Mart), nobody this side of the convalescent home is going to be interested in that type of “deal.”
If Wal-Mart stocks better clothes, people will buy them.
Cheap junk made in China is still going to be cheap junk, even if you put a low-end designer name on it, or make one up. A certain amount is going to have to be spent to pay for a certain amount of quality.
Wal-Mart could conceiveably sell the same sorts of designer items Target sells, since much of the price discrepancy of Wal-Mart is still centered around their “specials” and end-caps, while often the bulk of their merchandise is still the same price and sometime higher, as at other big box stores. But the bigger problem is image. Wal-Mart is rapidly developing such a bad image and reputation, that it’s hard to imagine any designers with integrity wanting to be associated with the company (note all the unknown "used-to"s in the article). They may be able to develop inhouse brands that aren’t completely obsolete in look and functionality within a year, but no serious designers are going to want their name on the products. Consider the low-end “designer” products at Kmart (excluding Martha Stewart), and then think lower. Housewear by Bronson Pinchot, or women’s fashion by Jill Whelan (I’m just imagining), that don’t look completely awful or don’t cost more than $15, are still going to be low-end.
No one is going to go out of their way to stop at a Wal-Mart for their hot new housewear or fashions. And there’s nothing whatsoever about Wal-Mart’s target audience that suggests “hip” or “urban” or even “modern”. It’s cheap junk from China, and disposables.
