Supply Chain

"Everyday Low Prices"- Not Anymore...

Aug. 16, 2011

It has finally happened. The folks in Bentonville can no longer claim the mantra of being the cheapest.

Aldi, Amazon.com, Dollar General, Target, and even your local grocery store are selling many products at prices lower than Wal-Mart.

It appears the cracks have formed for the retail behemoth.

With the majority of their employees already paid the bare minimum; their suppliers tapped out after years of relentless pressure to cut prices; and, the costs of manufacturing rapidly rising in China- their biggest producing market, Wal-Mart is in a tough spot. Where does it squeeze more out its current model?

If you live by the cheap, you might very well die by it as well.

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.