Perfecting the Wal Mart Experience When Wal Mart finally went public in 1970, most of Wall Street didn’t get it-and perhaps still doesn’t. Not all analysts would see that, town by town, customers were voting with their dollars and their loyalty on which stores and strategies they liked best and that, more often than not, Wal Mart was winning the retail election. But could a combination of relatively simple strategies really guide the company to become the biggest, most powerful brand in the world? In their desire to figure out what set Wal Mart apart, few analysts recognized that the Wal Mart difference was in its sameness. Like McDonald’s in its early years, consistency played a key role both in Wal Mart’s international success and in its adoption into the American culture.

If a trip to Wal Mart is like going to a KISS concert, then the mix of having what customers want at the price they want to pay is the makeup and the Wal Mart greeter is the magic. From day one, Sam Walton’s vision was to give customers a consistent shopping experience and the best possible prices. In the early days, the combination of friendly service, casual conversation with other customers, and low prices left customers smiling and delighted. Although achieving that personal emotional connection became more difficult as the retail chain morphed to megasize, the basics of creating a positive in store experience remained the same. Overall customer satisfaction depends on how well the store performs on a host of simple tactics, from clean restrooms and organized stores to signage that is simple and easy to understand. Wal Mart’s success stems from mastering the mundane, the importance of which many stores still underestimate.

Retailers as Brands Major retailers of the past were usually sellers of other firm’s brands.

Grocery chains sold brands of products from Procter & Gamble and Kraft. Department stores sold fashion brands ranging from Levi’s to Tommy Hilfiger. Hardware stores sold Stanley tools and Kohler plumbing fixtures. That’s changing. To be culturally relevant today, the goal for retailers is to be not just a seller of branded products, but to be the brand in the minds of consumers. This is fueled partly by the fact that an increasing proportion of sales and margins is derived from store brands (”private brands”) at most retail chains.

More important, in an era of too many retailers chasing too few consumers, it’s fueled by the need to be positioned in consumers’ minds as the place that delivers the satisfaction of a Stones or KISS concert. It may not matter to consumers whether that satisfaction is derived from manufacturers’ brands, the store’s brands, or the right combination of both. In consumers’ minds, it’s the total experience that creates a retailer’s brand. Are the right products in stock? Are prices in the expected range? Are personnel knowledgeable and friendly? Do the location, atmospherics, and in store logistics invite consumers to the store, delighting them so well that they return and tell their friends? Some retail brands are succeeding, none so well as Wal Mart, as you’ll see in Chapter 4. No retailer has had faster growth in sales recently than Florida based Chico’s, the boomer oriented retailing champion in ability to relate to consumer lifestyles. Kohl’s, Container Store, and 99 cent stores are other big winners in understanding changing lifestyles and relating to them.