Word: wal
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Wal-Mart's real problem in Europe is a lack of scale. In the U.S., where it can shift massive volumes of stock through its mammoth supercenters, the company wrings price concessions from suppliers and passes on the savings to customers. Wal-Mart's 3,118 stores in the U.S. average 38,109 sq m each; Asda's 241 outlets are barely one-third that size. Moreover, Asda is primarily devoted to food, not higher-margin general merchandise...
...Wal-Mart is trying to rectify things. This year alone it's spending $648 million to add 182,927 sq m of sales space in Britain by building nine new stores and expanding four others. But that's not enough, Hyman insists. "They have got to drive more volume through the business, and that means many more stores." Expansion could be hampered, though, by zoning restrictions that limit store sizes in both Germany and Britain. Acquisitions are a possibility, but pickings are slim. In Germany many rival chains are owned by families that are in no mood to sell. Potential...
...History shows that Wal-Mart is smart enough to devise solutions and rich enough to carry them out-especially since Europe is key to its plans to become a global player. Michael Poynor, retail director at London consultancy COBA Group, says Wal-Mart could achieve the scale it needs by taking a pan-European tact and scooping up another big chain in a third country. But that will take more time and money. And investors may go along for the ride for only as long as the good times continue to roll at a double-digit pace...
Amazon.com, in its continuing quest to turn a profit in the e-tailing game, has long been bent on transforming itself into the Wal-Mart of cyberspace, expanding from books to electronics to drugs to furniture to cars...
...going after the real thing. According to Britain's Sunday Times, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott are hammering out a bricks-and-clicks mesh of the titans. Amazon would get a marketing presence in Wal-Mart's stores, and Wal-Mart would get Amazon's expertise in e-tailing and inventory management...