Why didn't Germans like Walmart?

SpicyMcVoodoo · 07-28-2006, 05:03 PM

I heard on CNBC that Walmart has finally pulled out of Germany after 6 straight years of losses. What's different there than here? Anyone know?

Scrum · 07-28-2006, 05:03 PM

I clicked expecting the punchline to a joke.

SpicyMcVoodoo · 07-28-2006, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by Scrumtralecent

I clicked expecting the punchline to a joke.

ballz2wallz · 07-28-2006, 05:16 PM

stuck in their way of life?

archangel003 · 07-28-2006, 05:18 PM

Walmart probably couldn't make money AND conform to Germany's socialist labor laws.

SpicyMcVoodoo · 07-28-2006, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by archangel003

Walmart probably couldn't make money AND conform to Germany's socialist labor laws.

If it were just a question of unfriendly laws, then why'd they go there in the first place? Assuming the laws didn't change once already there...

7960 · 07-28-2006, 05:25 PM

google

why walmart fail germany

http://www.hicbusiness.org/biz2003pr...as%20Knorr.pdf

ballz2wallz · 07-28-2006, 05:28 PM

so basically things are already cheap in germany?

7960 · 07-28-2006, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

so basically things are already cheap in germany?

"walmart has failed to succeed in any market it can't drive a truck to"

it has something to do with their distribution chain... read the PDF

ballz2wallz · 07-28-2006, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by 7960

"walmart has failed to succeed in any market it can't drive a truck to"

it has something to do with their distribution chain... read the PDF

yeah i know...because they can't offer prices lower than the competition like they can in america...that's what i got from the pdf

7960 · 07-28-2006, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

yeah i know...because they can't offer prices lower than the competition like they can in america...that's what i got from the pdf

that's part of it, but there's also another part about culture and walmart not fitting in

Stylerod · 07-28-2006, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by 7960

that's part of it, but there's also another part about culture and walmart not fitting in

I guess. I was just there and went to a few places that were very much "Walmart" like.

motivez · 07-28-2006, 07:03 PM

I thought Walmart was 100% anti union too.. don't Germany and most European countries have Union's built in?

Dumpy Dooby · 07-29-2006, 12:23 AM

They mistreat their European employees too.

JaJae · 07-29-2006, 12:35 AM

I heard they were doing well in some asian countries from a tv special..

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

avsp · 07-29-2006, 08:01 AM

Walmart bought a leading UK supermarket chain, Asda. It already had a reputation of very strong price competition. They have pursuded this ever more vigourously.

Asda have very recently just avoided a strike by staff at distribution centres. Personal anecdotes that I've heard suggest that staff are p*ssed off with changes in working practices since the Walmart takeover, ..., attempts at company songs etc are seen as literally 'mad' & personally intrusive, ..., those who've not objected to such things have sort of been ostrachised. (note: this is a very limited one-off anecdital account & may not be true reflection of the situation)

The UK supermaket sector is huge, ..., the market leader Tesco accounts for 1 in 8 of ALL RETAIL SALES by value.

The pdf is taking ages to load, ..., but there are several German chains here in the UK that are very very cheap, Aldi & Lidl being the main ones, so I'm guessing that the market was already fully streched & too competitive with no room for a new player, ..., all the good locations gone etc.

civicmon · 07-29-2006, 01:14 PM

Carrefour is hammering them in the rest of the world.. china, Brazil, Argentina, and now germany.

Carrefour is French-based and a large department store like Walmart.

PetriW · 07-29-2006, 07:33 PM

I think that he simple example of Wal-mart trying to use greeters shows just how little they understand Europe. The natural reaction here is "wtf, who is that person and why are they bothering me".
We're accustomed to self-service; if we need help we may seek someone out, although most likely we don't even ask for it and just go find what we need on our own, even if it takes a while.

This leads to higher personnel costs, even though their workers are paid less. Wal-mart through this failed to keep low prices; there were several competitors who kept lower prices on a consistent basis. Wal-mart may be big, but the same thing has existed in Europe for 30 years, just that instead of one huge colossus we have several smaller retailers with razor thin margins (0.5-0.8%).
Wal-mart also failed miserably at understanding European unions, while there are plenty of people willing to take a low salary job, if they feel they get paid too little they'll organize themselves to try do something about it.
The pay at these stores is hardly stellar but through limiting personnel the wages becomes less of an issue than it is for Wal-mart.

Wal-mart is even breaking the German antitrust act in order to keep their financial records away from analysts, media and even shareholders to hide the dire state of Wal-mart Germany, all this despite ever heavier fines.

Wal-mart failed in Germany through extreme ignorance.

JaJae · 07-29-2006, 09:33 PM

That's an interesting take. Walmart prides themselves on how they adapted to China. It's interesting to see how a company can corner one market and completely fail in another.

Apparently Walmart didn't know what they were getting into over there.

Diesel66 · 07-29-2006, 09:39 PM

Originally Posted by civicmon

Carrefour is hammering them in the rest of the world.. china, Brazil, Argentina, and now germany.

Carrefour is French-based and a large department store like Walmart.

you mean wal-mart didnt sell their souls to the devil and is going to rule us all