(This is a Brand Experience Brief — a video audit and analysis of a new or interesting restaurant or retail concept.)
Walmart Neighborhood Market, a smaller format store, competes against dollar stores and grocery stores — it looks to me like they just might win the fight. Check it out:
Brand Experience Brief: Walmart Neighborhood Market (by Denise Lee Yohn) from Denise Lee Yohn on Vimeo.
other brand experience briefs:
transcript:
Today’s brand experience brief is about Walmart’s Neighborhood Markets – this smaller format store is part of Walmart’s multi-faceted strategy to maintain its retail dominance. Right now, there are about 200 Neighborhood Markets open and the company plans to open more than 500 by fiscal year 2016. And with good reason: Neighborhood Market’s comparable sales in the first half of 2012 were up 5%, which is double the growth rate of the Wal-Mart U.S. average, net margins are around 3%, and the business unit generates more than $10 billion of sales as a whole. A Neighborhood Market recently opened up in La Mesa a suburb of San Diego and so I went to take a look:
As indicated by its name, this store is primarily a supermarket, with a selection of food products and fresh produce comparable to any grocery store, and it has a pharmacy and good-sized non-food sections for household and personal care products. It’s really nice, with high, exposed ceilings, long wide aisles, and lots of white paint. The visual identity for the store incorporates a bright green color in place of the blue used on regular Walmarts and the signage features bright colors and good photography.
Whenever I visit a supermarket, the test I apply to see if I would personally shop there is their soy milk selection – this store didn’t disappoint – it had an extensive, well-stocked selection at prices lower than what I normally pay at Ralphs, a Kroger owned chain of grocery stores in Southern California. Speaking of Ralphs, the Neighborhood Market is in the same strip mall as a Ralphs and is going head to head with it – check out this price comparison display at the front of store claiming you save over $36 by shopping at Walmart.
The other noteworthy point about the location of this store is that it is exactly 1 mile from a regular Walmart – although the distance between the two stores is so small, the differences between them are quite big. Of course, the Neighborhood Market is much smaller, around 50,000 square feet which is a quarter the size of typical Walmart Supercenter, and it doesn’t have all of the regular Walmart departments like clothing and toys.
But what was most notable to me was how it was much fresher, cleaner, and brighter – some of this is because the location I visited is newer, but it’s also because of the design and layout, visuals, and space at the Neighborhood Market. It feels big and airy and there is a lot more open space compared to those tight corners and crowded aisles you have to navigate at a regular Walmart. And there aren’t any of those mid-aisle pallet displays that offer great prices but look really ugly.
From a business perspective, all of this translates into lower sales-per-square-feet and indeed according to analysts reports, the Neighborhood Markets appear to be much less productive than Walmart’s other stores, but so far, the company doesn’t seem to be concerned. It knows that it will soon reach the saturation point for its big box supercenters and smaller store formats like the Neighborhood Market are key to continued growth. And the strategy is really about competing against dollar stores and grocery stores.
It looks to me like Walmart’s Neighborhood Markets just might win that fight.
retail, denise lee yohn, customer experience, Walmart, Brand experience brief, dollar store, grocery store, pharmacy, Ralph's, smaller store format, Walmart Neighborhood Market
Subscribe to the Blog
Sign up to receive an update each time a new blog post is published.
FAQs
Of course, the Neighborhood Market is much smaller, around 50,000 square feet which is a quarter the size of typical Walmart Supercenter, and it doesn't have all of the regular Walmart departments like clothing and toys.
Who is the owner of the Walmart market? ›
What's the difference between Walmart and Walmart Supercenter? ›
What's the difference between Walmart and Super Walmart? The main difference is grocery. The smaller Walmart's are called division 1 stores and have no or very limited groceries. The bigger Walmart's are called Supercenters and have a full grocery department.
How many Walmart stores are there in the United States? ›
Retail Units:
Walmart U.S.: 4,609. Sam's Club U.S.: 599. Walmart International: 5,399.
Why did Walmart stop being 24 hours? ›
The retailer reduced store opening hours , opens new tab in March 2020 to make time for its associates to “clean and stock products” because of the pandemic. In June 2021, the company said , opens new tab most of its stores would be open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Who is the richest family Walmart? ›
The Walton family is an American family whose collective fortune derived from Walmart makes them the richest family in the United States.
Why is Walmart changing their name? ›
Why is Wal-mart changing its name to Walmart? It's not about the hyphen, it's about going from Wal-Mart Stores Inc to Walmart Inc. It's about dropping the stores due to Wal-Mart being so much more that just the brick and mortar buildings. Hope that clarifies.
How much of Walmart is owned by China? ›
However, when it comes to the ownership of Walmart stores in America, there is no evidence to suggest that China holds any ownership stake. Walmart, a multinational retail corporation, was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and is still largely controlled by the Walton family.
What is Walmart's original name? ›
The history of Walmart, an American discount department store chain, began in 1950 when businessman Sam Walton purchased a store from Luther E. Harrison in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and opened Walton's 5 & 10.
Does Walmart own Sam's Club? ›
A division of Walmart Inc., we are the membership warehouse club solution for everyday living. Our President and CEO is Chris Nicholas and our headquarters is in Bentonville, AR. For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2023, Sam's Club's total revenue was $84.3 billion.
Brands From Walmart Private Labels
There are over 29,000 products under Walmart's private label brands. They're part of more than 315 brands in 20 categories. The Auto & Tires category has more than 5,000 products. More than 92% of the products in Auto & Tires are from the tire brand Douglas.
Where is the smallest Walmart in the US? ›
Walmart made retail history today by opening its smallest store ever.
Is Lowe's owned by Walmart? ›
Lowe's Companies, Inc. and Walmart Inc. are separate companies and are not owned by the same parent company. While both are prominent retail chains in the United States, they operate independently and have different ownership structures and management teams.
What state doesn't have a Walmart? ›
The company has stores in all 50 states, but it does not have stores in some of the country's largest cities. There are no Walmart stores in five of the country's largest 25 cities — New York City, San Francisco, Detroit, Seattle or Boston. That is a total of 11.23 million consumers that Walmart cannot reach.
Do all Walmarts have the same prices? ›
Prices may vary from store to store because each store is required to manage its own inventory. Therefore, a manager may lower a price to clear out an overstock item, to reward customers with an in-store sale, or to compete with local merchants.
Does Walmart's new neighborhood store format run counter to the cost-cutting emphasis that is at least partially responsible for the success of its traditional stores? ›
Expert-Verified Answer
The answer to the question is no; Wal-Mart's new neighborhood store format does not necessarily run counter to the cost-cutting emphasis that has contributed to the success of its traditional stores.
What is the largest Walmart in the world? ›
the largest Walmart in the entire world. It is located in Albany, New York. This Walmart is 260,000 square feet, and it has 2 floors. It has escalators and elevators that can transport you.
What is the difference between Walmart and Target? ›
Walmart controls supercenters sometimes over 180,000 square feet, aiming to offer the lowest price possible. Target runs large stores as well, but they are more focused on profit margins through the supply chain, which is why they are able to post lower revenues but higher profit margins.
