Word: wal-mart
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Nothing says more about the American mind-set than what consumers are buying, and ignoring, at drugstores, supermarkets and mass-merchandising outlets like Wal-Mart and Target. TIME asked the Nielsen Co. to identify the best- and worst-performing product categories during this recession, and the findings are quite revealing. In general, people are buying more food to prepare at home, a function of their eating out less often at restaurants, which are suffering. At the same time, they're forsaking home furnishings and more discretionary items. "The American consumer is clearly getting back to basics," says Todd Hale, Nielsen...
...only way to see what will happen in the retail industry in the next several quarters is to watch it like a hawk today. The first impression that many people get is that the retail business is OK because Wal-Mart is doing so well. But, Wal-Mart is the exception to the rule. Sam Walton's company continues do well because its tremendous buying power, distribution, and brand allows it to attract customers who get relatively high quality products for very little money. Its success removes a great deal of the foot traffic from the rest of the industry...
...center of the drop-off in middle class buying power. Firms including Liz Claiborne (LIZ) and Talbot's (TAL) are in about the same spot. Ann Taylor is probably much better off than genuinely failing retailers including Bon-Ton (BONT) and Gap (GPS). Ann Taylor, of course, is not Wal-Mart which will most likely stay in a world all its own for the duration of the downturn...
...this odd couple together is one thing: money. Linking up with an exclusive retailer is not a new idea, but it has proven to be quite a profitable one of late, at least for well-established musicians. The Eagles and AC/DC released their most recent original albums exclusively through Wal-Mart, and in January, Bruce Springsteen gave the chain an exclusive greatest-hits set. Each benefited from massive in-store promotion and stop-the-cart placement - AC/DC's Black Ice sold 1.92 million copies to rank as the fifth best-selling album of 2008. Paul McCartney also saw some...
...recession far better than its American counterparts not just because it has been making the fuel-efficient automobile customers wanted - though that helped a great deal - but because the Japanese giant makes a fetish out of efficiency. (The term for it in Japanese is kaizen, or continual improvement.) Even Wal-Mart, once environmental Enemy Number One, has made its Byzantine supply chain greener and more efficient - and spreading those values to its network of suppliers. The message is sinking in: a 2008 survey by Johnson Controls found that 72% of building managers are now paying attention to energy efficiency...