NEW YORK -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is continuing to tweak its strategy to attract more shoppers by selling higher-end items while keeping a focus on value for its loyal shoppers, Eduardo Castro-Wright, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores USA, said on Wednesday. "Everything we're trying to do is focused around the customer," Castro-Wright said at a Merrill Lynch conference in New York, reported Reuters.
In a strategy shift that could impact the convenience store channel, Castro-Wright said Wal-Mart is taking a closer look at what customers in specific [image-nocss] markets want and at each market's competitive environment, rather than using a single strategy across the country.
Wal-Mart does a good job at keeping its loyal shoppers happy with low prices, but needs to do more to get selective shoppers, who only go to Wal-Mart for items like toiletries or food, to buy more, Castro-Wright said.
Selective shoppers are key to Wal-Mart's growth in the United States.
A new Wal-Mart that opened on Wednesday in Plano, Texas, for example, has high-end wines and cheeses, as well as a sushi bar, things that most shoppers wouldn't expect from the company, Castro-Wright said. [Click here to see an image gallery of the Plano store; click here for video.]
Still, he noted that the Plano store is targeted toward shoppers with higher-than-average household incomes, so many of the things there would not work in the company's usual format.
Another change, which will take some time for remodeling work, is to bring pharmacists out from behind glass panels so that customers have better access to ask questions, he said.
Wal-Mart is also expanding a test of a redesigned baby department to about 200 stores by the end of the year. In the new setup, staples such as formula and diapers are sold closer to higher-priced, more profitable items such as clothing and furniture.
Castro-Wright said Wal-Mart is also working with vendors to reduce the amount of inventory in stores. He said that Wal-Mart can do a better job of stocking only what is necessary in each store, rather than overstocking items which then have to be sold at a discount or shipped back to vendors.
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