Visitors to this site know I often get frustrated by pundit commentary. (How can so many experts know where the recession is going, when they didn’t see it coming?) It all reminds me that the smartest people in the room aren’t always those who claim to have the right answers. They’re the people with the right questions.
Lee Scott was the CEO of Wal-Mart up until the first of last month. My hunch is that this guy knows a thing or two about retail. But even from his admirable position, he didn’t claim to have the answers. Instead, he went to consumers with questions. After sharing some of his observations during a keynote speech to the annual meeting of the National Retail Federation recently, he fielded some questions that were captured and published by Advertising Age. This is definitely worth your three or so minutes.
Implications: First, it is important to note that when Mr. Scott describes his observations about consumer temperament, his sample is largely composed of Wal-Mart shoppers. While that’s a lot of people, it is not “everyone.” And it is a market segment that is presumably pre-disposed to being price sensitive.
That having been said, Mr. Scott seems to suggest that people are less likely, going forward, to spend without contemplation. Consumers will be more likely to deliberate, contemplate, compare. I take his comments to suggest that you should once again compare the value you deliver to that of your competition. Because likely, that’s what your customers will be doing in greater numbers.
[Author’s note: Am I the only person so impressed by the humility of this guy, who until last month ran the largest retail company on the planet?]
Mike Anderson
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