Save Money, Live Better?

It’s easy to pick on Wal-Mart. The 800-pound gorilla of retailing. From social issues like claims of sexual discrimination and not providing healthcare for its workers, to community issues like the accusations that it crushes local mom-and-pop businesses when it moves into town, Wal-Mart has been portrayed as the poster child for the sins of “big business.”

But Wal-Mart’s marketing position is clear: Low prices. Especially in the current economic environment, a solid appeal. Add to that an extensive breadth and depth of product selection, an expansive distribution network of stores and lots of money to spend on promotion, and their marketing success is impressive.

Donna and I bought a TV this weekend. The last time we did that – probably 10 years ago – we went to Circuit City in Santa Maria, now a casualty of the Great Recession. So, off to Wal-Mart we went. Lots of TVs from which to choose. Well known brands. Low prices. But customer service – not so much.

Granted, we don’t shop at Wal-Mart very often – maybe a handful of times a year. But what happened to the senior-citizen “greeter” that I always remember bellowing “Welcome to Wal-Mart!” as I stepped inside the store? From what I can tell – at least at the store in Arroyo Grande – the smiling, cheerful “greeter” has been replaced by a less enthusiastic “exit door checker” who asks to see your receipt as you cart your TV out of the store.

No one offered to provide any sort of help in the Electronics department, where TVs of every size were competing for attention, turned on and mounted to the wall. Checkers at the cash registers seemed cheerless. Kind of made me want to use the self-service kiosks which now occupy prime spots in the middle of the check-out area.

My overall buying experience: functional and efficient. But I didn’t want to linger in the aisles. Get in, find what I need and get out. Did I pay less? Yes, almost certainly. Will I return in the future? Probably, but just for the items I perceive Wal-Mart (www.wal-mart.com) offers at a steep discount. However, it is not a retail experience which I look forward to fondly.