Where Is Wal-Mart's Fancy Stuff? Try Online("wealthy consumers" look good)

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Where Is Wal-Mart's Fancy Stuff? Try Online
By BOB TEDESCHI
Published: November 21, 2005


....Walmart.com has broken through its own glass ceiling, selling high-priced platinum and diamond jewelry, cashmere sweaters and other goods designed to appeal more to the Tiffany crowd than to the bargain hunters who browse the company's terrestrial stores.

The question is why, and the answer is straightforward: Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, with 1.3 million workers and nearly $300 billion in annual revenue, is reaching out to more affluent shoppers. With disappointing sales of late and its stock price lagging, it has begun displaying more fashionable clothes and more upscale home furnishings in its stores.

Over the last few weeks, it has added luxury items to its Web site as a test. The online store still caters overwhelmingly to buyers' appetite for low-cost deals, from $18 six-packs of boxer shorts to $15 roller-skate kits, just as its stores do. But now, if you look hard, you can also find a Hyundai 60-inch plasma TV with a built-in digital tuner for $7,688, a gift basket of 1,000 fine chocolates for $248 and 100 percent cashmere scarves for $98.88.

And, sure enough, right there along with the $520 Keepsake Majestic 7/8-carat diamond ring ("was $600"); the $229 Keepsake Tapestry ¼-carat diamond, 14-karat yellow-gold ring; and the $13.12 sterling silver cubic zirconia ring ("was $17.97") you can find the 1¾-carat, fancy-yellow-grade diamond, 18-karat white gold ring ("IGI Certified") for $9,988...."This is us being very aggressive in trying to understand if someone is willing to buy from us at that price point," said Raul Vazquez, vice president of marketing at Walmart.com, referring to the 1¾-carat diamond ring.

Analysts said that Wal-Mart was also grappling with a familiar predicament for online merchants: The cost of selling cheap goods. "A lot of retailers have found that they're not so sure they want all those mainstream customers on their site," said Carrie Johnson, a retail analyst with Forrester Research. "They buy fewer items, they need more help with orders and they're harder to satisfy." In contrast, Ms. Johnson said, "the wealthy, time-strapped consumers are looking pretty good right now."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/21/business/21ecom.html?8hpib

[Bill McBlueState]

1. i wonder

Do those cashmere sweaters still smell like Wal-Mart? The handful of clothes I've ever bought at Wal-Mart have this smell about them similar to whatever crap they're selling in their "restaurant" that's really hard to get out.

[ret5hd]

4. i'm sorry...that's my fault...

every time i try on clothes in wal-mart, i fart in 'em. then i put 'em back on the rack.

(really, i haven't been in a wal-mart in over 5 yrs)

[bleedingheart]

7. I almost spit my farina on my monitor after reading that...

[hallc]

10. :dies:

i just bust out laughing in the middle of class - thanks for that! lmao

[booksenkatz]

2. Even *I* could not eat 1,000 fine chocolates

I've never understood mindless excess... excess "just because you can."
:puke:

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

3. Hmmmm, do I want a diamond from Tiffany or Squal-Mart...hmmm

Gee, that's a tough one.:rofl:

[Canuckistanian]

5. Oh, yeah, this will go over well

Do you really think "wealthy, time-strapped consumers" care about saving a few bucks by shopping at Walmart?

The wealthy are status-conscious animals. If they can get the same diamond necklace at Cartier's or Tiffany's by paying $100 more, where do you think they'll shop?

Besides, then they'll have to actually go into those stores and mix with the great unwashed hordes...

[superconnected]

9. The wealthy are the CHEAPEST people I've ever met.

Some are okay but MOST are super cheap and they don't pay their bills.

I know, I'm turning a bunch of rich people into collection this week for bills they haven't paid to me. I own a business that services them. Middleclass and lower class people are far better customers - more polite, considerate etc. and way more likely to pay their bills.

[regnaD kciN]

15. And, if they're not cheap...

...they are likely to be so status-conscious that they would never dream of buying from Wal*Mart instead of something more upscale.

:eyes:

[bleedingheart]

11. That blue tiffany box speaks volumes....and it is just as coveted

as the stuff found within it...

[Village Idiot]

6. I still fail to see ANY reason to EVER shop at Wal-Mart.

Why ANYONE else would do so is a mystery to me, as well.

[natrat]

8. screw you wallmart and any of the turds that shop there

[mikeytherat]

12. A catalog for Sam's Club has a pink diamond pendant for nearly $1 million

Yes, you read that right. Assume Dr. Evil voice and say, "One million dollars." Of course, it comes with the Always Low Price Guarantee, so it only costs you $560,000. There was quite a bit of other jewelry in the five- and six-figures, too.

http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=90041

mikey_the_rat

[Ian David]

13. Investigate if this is being used to launder gifts to lobbyists?

Would anyone be surprised if Wal-Mart were using this as a way to launder money for giving gifts (such as "he 1¾-carat, fancy-yellow-grade diamond, 18-karat white gold ring 'IGI Certified' for $9,988")?

[natrat]

14. unpatriotic to bash wallmart

A senior administration source who spoke on condition of anonymity has raised questions about the patriotism of Wal-Mart critics.

When asked about documented Wal-Mart practices of paying wages below poverty level, offering health benefits that require tens of thousands of employees’ children to go on Medicaid, spending millions on union busting, and employing construction and cleaning subcontractors who illegally use undocumented foreign workers, the source replied, “And?
You make it sound like that’s a bad thing. These kinds of smears on America’s biggest employer, no matter how true, are bound to demoralize our troops and embolden our enemies.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-pikser/do-attacks-on-walmart-un_b_10979.html

unreal