Supply Chain

Wal-Mart Getting Stronger - Again

Nov. 12, 2010

In a move to further strengthen its grip on much of the American consumer market- and the global economy- Wal-Mart has announced that it will now offer free shipping to customers who order from the its website.

As the price-cutting in consumer products drags on, and Wal-Mart continues to consolidate its position as the clear winner, why on Earth would any company with an innovative product seek to make Wal-Mart their customer?

Still, I'm told flights to Bentonville are regularly full and Wal-Mart has no shortage of willing innovators lining up hoping to strike it rich.

Even the venerable Apple is now trying their hand at the Wal-Mart table.

Doesn't anybody realize who is actually going to pay for the "free shipping" in the end? It's the suppliers, of course.

The end results are inevitably commoditization, cheapened quality, outsourced jobs to low-wage markets, and the continued deindustrialization of America.

About the Author

Andrew R. Thomas Blog | Associate Professor of Marketing and International Business

Andrew R. Thomas, Ph.D., is associate professor of marketing and international business at the University of Akron; and, a member of the core faculty at the International School of Management in Paris, France.

He is a bestselling business author/editor, whose 23 books include, most recently, American Shale Energy and the Global Economy: Business and Geopolitical Implications of the Fracking Revolution, The Customer Trap: How to Avoid the Biggest Mistake in Business, Global Supply Chain Security, The Final Journey of the Saturn V, and Soft Landing: Airline Industry Strategy, Service and Safety.

His book The Distribution Trap was awarded the Berry-American Marketing Association Prize for the Best Marketing Book of 2010. Another work, Direct Marketing in Action, was a finalist for the same award in 2008.

Andrew is founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Transportation Security and a regularly featured analyst for media outlets around the world.

He has traveled to and conducted business in 120 countries on all seven continents.