Walmart Upscale Remodels

[Alpha8472]

Walmart has remodeled some stores into a more upscale look as more higher income shoppers are going to Walmart.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/28/walmart ... signs.html

[storewanderer]

Looking forward to the $1 sales on these items this summer.

In the mean time wasting space on stuff the core Wal Mart customer will not buy that is too expensive as well will only cause additional confusion with customers.

Trying to copy Target on softlines is not going to be a winning strategy for Wal Mart. I also think Target's softlines business is having some problems and seems way over-inventoried. Reno Target still has a ton of fall softlines left, the only clothing category there that seems to be turning items successfully is kid's clothing.

[buckguy]

Walmart has mostly been stagnating, in terms of sales, for years. Adding upscale electronics didn't change that, nor did organics. they do a little better during difficult economic times, but they can't hold on to a wider customer base beyond that.

[retailfanmitchell019]

Looking forward to the $1 sales on these items this summer.

In the mean time wasting space on stuff the core Wal Mart customer will not buy that is too expensive as well will only cause additional confusion with customers.

I'm guessing the average Walmart customer is an older, middle-class exurbanite sensitive to utility costs and gas prices. The type of person with a large property and a pickup truck.
At the end of the day, it seems like Walmart markets every store the same, it doesn't matter whether it's in Portland, OR or rural Alabama.

[storewanderer]

Looking forward to the $1 sales on these items this summer.

In the mean time wasting space on stuff the core Wal Mart customer will not buy that is too expensive as well will only cause additional confusion with customers.

I'm guessing the average Walmart customer is an older, middle-class exurbanite sensitive to utility costs and gas prices. The type of person with a large property and a pickup truck.
At the end of the day, it seems like Walmart markets every store the same, it doesn't matter whether it's in Portland, OR or rural Alabama.

Their softlines program has started to vary by store over the past couple of years. There are some real noticeable differences. At the end of the day I am only interested in when they have $1 clearance prices on softlines and catching some of these items on that deal is great. There are brands (like that FA brand in the picture) that are only in some locations. The US Polo thing does seem to be appearing in all stores now though, at first it was only some stores.

Also on the grocery side of the store I do see some different sets in produce depending on the store (some have more ethnic produce, some have more Organics). On areas like meat, bakery, deli, the stores all look like they sell the exact same products. Center store is quite variable by location on what is and isn't offered. I think some of that is a store size thing as opposed to anything else.

[ClownLoach]

Looking forward to the $1 sales on these items this summer.

In the mean time wasting space on stuff the core Wal Mart customer will not buy that is too expensive as well will only cause additional confusion with customers.

I'm guessing the average Walmart customer is an older, middle-class exurbanite sensitive to utility costs and gas prices. The type of person with a large property and a pickup truck.
At the end of the day, it seems like Walmart markets every store the same, it doesn't matter whether it's in Portland, OR or rural Alabama.

Umm... Not in California.
Walmart, despite their fairly late entry to California as they grew towards the west, has the most inconsistent hodgepodge of store sizes and formats here than anywhere else in the country. True snowflakes. No two stores are even close to being the same. Larger buildings have much smaller assortments of some categories you would expect them to have in your market. Then the smaller building has a much larger assortment. There are stores that if you didn't see a Walmart Neighborhood Market sign outside you might think that you walked into a Hispanic grocery store. Others look like they operate in the middle of nowhere flyover country. Sometimes these two stores I describe are within five miles of each other. They all seem to have hyper-customized assortments which must come from some sort of demographic analysis that couple with space analytics. These systems spew out completely individualized and unique planograms for each specific location. It's not perfect (every new SoCal opening has been fully stocked with a stack out of Velveeta Cheese Logs and Ro-Tel and as many ice scrapers as you can carry in automotive), but the systems crunch the sales numbers and the store assortment evolves in real time with each new planogram update.

[storewanderer]

Umm... Not in California.
Walmart, despite their fairly late entry to California as they grew towards the west, has the most inconsistent hodgepodge of store sizes and formats here than anywhere else in the country. True snowflakes. No two stores are even close to being the same. Larger buildings have much smaller assortments of some categories you would expect them to have in your market. Then the smaller building has a much larger assortment. There are stores that if you didn't see a Walmart Neighborhood Market sign outside you might think that you walked into a Hispanic grocery store. Others look like they operate in the middle of nowhere flyover country. Sometimes these two stores I describe are within five miles of each other. They all seem to have hyper-customized assortments which must come from some sort of demographic analysis that couple with space analytics. These systems spew out completely individualized and unique planograms for each specific location. It's not perfect (every new SoCal opening has been fully stocked with a stack out of Velveeta Cheese Logs and Ro-Tel and as many ice scrapers as you can carry in automotive), but the systems crunch the sales numbers and the store assortment evolves in real time with each new planogram update.

This is what I notice. Their mix is VERY variable by store. And it isn't always "big store = more product mix." It REALLY varies by category.

I do think in some categories, like, paper products and laundry detergent, they sell the same stuff pretty much in every store. Their entire hardlines program and kitchen products program and HBA/drug program is VERY customized by store.

It is also not unusual for them to discontinue items in some locations but keep carrying them in other locations. Then when a store does a remodel and resets department sizes they may bring some of the items previously discontinued in that location back to try again.

[ClownLoach]

Umm... Not in California.
Walmart, despite their fairly late entry to California as they grew towards the west, has the most inconsistent hodgepodge of store sizes and formats here than anywhere else in the country. True snowflakes. No two stores are even close to being the same. Larger buildings have much smaller assortments of some categories you would expect them to have in your market. Then the smaller building has a much larger assortment. There are stores that if you didn't see a Walmart Neighborhood Market sign outside you might think that you walked into a Hispanic grocery store. Others look like they operate in the middle of nowhere flyover country. Sometimes these two stores I describe are within five miles of each other. They all seem to have hyper-customized assortments which must come from some sort of demographic analysis that couple with space analytics. These systems spew out completely individualized and unique planograms for each specific location. It's not perfect (every new SoCal opening has been fully stocked with a stack out of Velveeta Cheese Logs and Ro-Tel and as many ice scrapers as you can carry in automotive), but the systems crunch the sales numbers and the store assortment evolves in real time with each new planogram update.

This is what I notice. Their mix is VERY variable by store. And it isn't always "big store = more product mix." It REALLY varies by category.

I do think in some categories, like, paper products and laundry detergent, they sell the same stuff pretty much in every store. Their entire hardlines program and kitchen products program and HBA/drug program is VERY customized by store.

It is also not unusual for them to discontinue items in some locations but keep carrying them in other locations. Then when a store does a remodel and resets department sizes they may bring some of the items previously discontinued in that location back to try again.

From what I can gleam off reading their planograms that they lazily leave taped to shelves for days after they do a reset, their system actually can and does build a complete store specific POG in hardlines. It probably does in grocery as well but those aisles get worked too hard and the POG never gets left on the shelf (after a few days someone either takes them down elsewhere or they fall on the floor then someone picks them up). While most companies have space planners that cobble together block sets (like let's say Cereals 48', 60', 72', Cereals extra organics 48', 60', 72', Cereals extra value items... And so on) it seems the Walmart system is capable of mapping one side of an entire aisle and adjusting it down to the last SKU to optimize assortment and number of facings. So my example I gave before in automotive - the store opens new and somehow will have ice scrapers and ice melt in California. The system will notice that not one living soul buys an ice scraper or ice melt but they move a lot of wiper fluid. Eventually the system will generate a revision and kill off the ice scrapers with a markdown along with the ice melt then it will add facings of something else like Rain-X to replace the scraper and add more fluid so the shelf stays full. You get the picture. The system seems to be able to do this work with no human intervention aside from posting the markdown (which Walmart isn't so good at) and executing the reset later. I'm sure the space planners and buyers can also take a phone call from the store manager to make changes they see are necessary, which can be good or not good. The now closed Irvine store at one point got a Store Manager transferred in from out of state and it was very obvious they didn't understand the market. Suddenly this location, surrounded by the largest blocks of apartments in Orange County in a renter majority city, was your headquarters for Jumbo size turkey fryers and Queso supplies - the largest pallet stack you've ever seen of Velveeta cheese and cans of Ro-Tel. They definitely did identify some categories the local Whole Foods and numerous Asian grocery stores weren't carrying, but...

Where I can see this going very poorly for Walmart is when they have stores in rough and tumble areas coupled with poor recovery and inventory prep practices. I've personally needed oddball items such as an aquarium air pump at late hours and headed off to a specific Walmart because their website shows they have plenty, only to walk the aisle and the entire shelf or peg is the wrong item and clearly has been for a long time. This problem has become worse since Walmart got rid of department managers who usually became experts on their aisles and would instantly see that out of place item then fix it. In SKU intensive obscure categories in hardlines these recovery and count errors could potentially cause the system to kick out good items because it thinks they're not selling when in fact they were shoplifted and then the wrong item went in that spot so nobody ever scanned the label and corrected the counts to order more. Last time that happened to me the store was stocking truck so I actually removed all the wrong items in the spot the item I wanted was supposed to be in, then I left them on the floor with the rest of their truck overstock. I was back at the store the next week and found the "overstock" I pulled down had been located onto the top shelf above the aisle and the item I wanted had finally been ordered and was on the shelf. If Walmart scans an out of stock to clear the count to zero they usually have it on the truck very quickly, potentially the same night if they scanned it early enough in the morning. Their distribution system must be excellent even if their store execution is sloppy.

And I think you're onto something with the remodel program which could explain why we see Walmart stores that were very recently remodeled within the previous two years shut down. Their actual "remodel" itself rarely uses any new fixtures or construction (aside from bathroom remodeling and usually a concrete floor conversion) and their signage is not expensive to fabricate. Usually it's just a reset of every aisle and then they hang new aisle and wall signs when they're done. Maybe their strategy is that if a store is failing they do a sales, demographic and competition analysis to plan out which departments need to be expanded or reduced, then go in and reset everything to a fresh, "initial version" planogram to get the items back into the store and see if assortment changes can rescue the location? It might bring the ice scrapers back to a beach market for a while but could serve as the kick in the rear the store needs to start performing again. They probably do the same thing with top performance stores. I get the impression that because of the minimal leadership presence where district and regional managers are spread way too thin Walmart probably has them spend 75% of their time at the bottom 25% performing stores, and probably 10% at the top 10%. They leave everything in the middle adrift and those stores get little attention other than maybe one or two annual visits from the DM or above.

[storewanderer]

Their remodels are really a big reset but due to throwing up some new cheap signs, qualify as a remodel. They do some repairs and maintenance. The bathroom remodels are a big thing (and they are really remodeling those this round- literally destructing the things down to every last tile). I am also noticing some new refrigeration/equipment on the grocery side showing up in some of the current remodels.