Walmart Blames The Consumer For Its Weak Sales … Um, No [Op-Ed]

Walmart is blaming its weak sales on the consumer.

Way to go, Walmart. You’re starting to show your inability to deal with facts.

The number one retailer in the world is losing its grip on the profit margin, with revenue in second quarter 2013 rising by only 2.3 percent, but only after falling for the past year. Normal market analysts would be quick to point out the fact that business is like that. There are rises and drops. Just because you’re having a bad year, it doesn’t mean doom for the business in general.

If Walmart really wants to blame anyone for its loss in sales, it need only look at the national economy and their own reaction. There has been a major slump for the last few years as we recover from the war with Iraq and any number of other countries that believe the US is the enemy. The national deficit is not doing well, being billions in the hole and still spending as Congress does almost nothing to curb the problem. Even so, the retailers themselves aren’t helping.

In general, the consumer is spending less because the consumer doesn’t have as much to spend, and paying your employees more could net some interesting results. You would see the morale start to rise, and pride in their work as they try harder to actually do their jobs. And as a result of boosting morale with a higher paycheck, Walmart might actually see their own employees shopping more in their own stores.

Take a look at CostCo if you think I’m lying. They pay their employees better, the morale is higher, and they actually have health insurance that works when it’s needed. If sales start slipping, you don’t blame the consumer. You blame yourself and keep more realistic expectations.

I have personally seen the price of gas go up alongside everything else, and then when it drops, everything else is slow to fall in response, if the prices drop at all. The buck stopped, and not in the pockets of the people who earned it. This is why people are spending less. Someone upstairs in retail isn’t letting the money go.

Yes, Walmart, there are more convenient places to buy less expensive items on the whole, such as Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, and other dollar stores which mostly sell the same things for what is generally a smaller price.

Yes, there are online markets such as Amazon that mostly offer a lot of the non-food items at used prices, which on the most part can be a serious discount, but remember that they also charge for shipping, so money isn’t really being saved on smaller sales.

In the end, Walmart, you only have yourself to blame for your weak sales. Pay your employees better and see if that doesn’t change your revenue reports for the better in a matter of months. You have the money, Walmart, just give it to the people who earned it.

What do you think of Walmart blaming the consumer for its weak sales?