Clothing Chain to stress on clients' demands

27 Oct '06

2 min read

Consumers had been reluctant to indulge at Wal-Mart even though gas prices fell.

Wal-Mart has sold 675 million pairs of white socks and laundry detergents had surged last year, while apparel sales had not met their expectations.

Its sales at stores last year rose only 1 percent, missing a company forecast.

Wal-Mart had an analyst meeting recently in Teaneck, NJ wherein leaders expressed dissatisfaction over the chain's performance in September.

Shoppers diverted to local stores when gas prices increased and they haven't yet switched back to Wal-Mart. Company must consider customer needs to make them return to it.

Wal-Mart plans to drastically reduce expenditure on new stores from about 20 percent this year to about 4 percent next year because of lower construction material costs and plans to build some smaller stores.

Company has already reduced prices on 100 popular toys this holiday season, could make even deeper cuts before Christmas and will observe a very aggressive toy market.

Wal-Mart withdrew from Germany and South Korea because of poor sales and is determined to make the chain a success in Japan, where it has struggled.

It was erroneous by the company to overload the fashion part, by introducing new trendy clothing lines like Metro 7, a Wal-Mart-designed brand, in many stores too quickly.

They felt that the solution should have been to carry “fashion basics” that were less intimidating to consumers.

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