Recession won't end soon, says Wal-Mart CEO
Filed under: Shopping, Recession
Despite the fact that some economists think the recession will end in September, Wal-Mart's CEO Rick Duke thinks otherwise. Speaking to the Today Show he predicted a much longer recession during which there must be a "sustained change in the way that families live."
Duke shared this opinion shortly after it was announced that retailers as a whole took a 1% drop in sales in March. Despite the drop in overall retail sales, Wal-Mart has continued to do well in the down economy thanks to an increase in the number of consumers turning to discounted prices.
At first glance it's easy to dismiss this comment as a means of reassuring company stockholders after missing the expected rise in sales for the first quarter, but there may be something to his projection.
While the government and analysts have mountains of data; Wal-Mart has a stream of real time data about consumer purchases. Remember, this is the company that can track a spike in the sale of Pop Tarts to a hurricane, so it makes sense that it has a grip on what's happening in the economy. Since Wal-Mart is the go-to shop for estimated 200 million Americans each year, it may have some of the best data regarding the habits of consumers and their wallets. Perhaps then we should give Mr. Duke's prediction a bit more weight than that of the average CEO.
The video below includes the full interview where you can learn about a few more consumer behavior trends that Wal-Mart has seen.
Duke shared this opinion shortly after it was announced that retailers as a whole took a 1% drop in sales in March. Despite the drop in overall retail sales, Wal-Mart has continued to do well in the down economy thanks to an increase in the number of consumers turning to discounted prices.
At first glance it's easy to dismiss this comment as a means of reassuring company stockholders after missing the expected rise in sales for the first quarter, but there may be something to his projection.
While the government and analysts have mountains of data; Wal-Mart has a stream of real time data about consumer purchases. Remember, this is the company that can track a spike in the sale of Pop Tarts to a hurricane, so it makes sense that it has a grip on what's happening in the economy. Since Wal-Mart is the go-to shop for estimated 200 million Americans each year, it may have some of the best data regarding the habits of consumers and their wallets. Perhaps then we should give Mr. Duke's prediction a bit more weight than that of the average CEO.
The video below includes the full interview where you can learn about a few more consumer behavior trends that Wal-Mart has seen.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-17-2009 @ 7:13AM
Sarah said...
Many people asked for this restriction in their lifestyle by demanding too much and being slaves to credit to appear wealthier then they were; to have what people used to wait decades for right away; and to have it without the appropriate careers and jobs; whose impressed now? No-one. Who did they fool?
I've always trusted my husband with money. It was never a bad issue. And I've always been against all of that easy credit and making minimum payments for large ticket items that people have no business purchasing. If that attracts a woman, they need to be prepared to pay for it until they die, because too many of them can't really afford it. It's not glamourous being forced to work and not being able to retire, not to mention you'd be working for less, working harder, and have reduced protections and no benefits most likely until you die. And you will face age discrimination alot sooner then you can imagine because they aren't easy jobs anymore for the lowest pay, not to mention what if you live longer?
It's better to be a long term thinker then to be seduced by easy credit and it's purchases - anyone could get into trouble like that; the hard part is paying it off the way it should be paid off. Besides, what gift is it to you if you have to pay for it? As if those gifts are for you. I'm sure there's people who even bragged about limits; we purposely have lower limits. You need credit because you don't have the money; which means you are poor; so why have the poor been buying their expensive items? You are so poor you have to pay interest to someone to get the money; how is that impressive? They're dying to take advantage of the poor, and now they finally have to do the responsible thing and reduce it's availability to poor people who thought they were wealthy, since they couldn't control themselves.
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4-17-2009 @ 7:14AM
jsschenke said...
This is the type of depressing economic news that prompted the Purdue Compliment Guys to launch their two-man happiness campaign.
See them at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QShPNcjgtfs
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