Walmart Nation

The year was 2025. Walmart's plan to become the sole retailer in the United States had come true. One of Walmart's last competitors was Harry. Harry made umbrellas. Bright green umbrellas. Then his wife, Rita, painted polka dots on them. Harry and his wife had lots of orders for these cute green umbrellas with polka dots on them. So, Harry thought he would always have a cut of the umbrella market, no matter how big Walmart got because people loved his polka dot umbrellas.

Harry wasn't a greedy man. He made his cute green umbrellas with polka dots at a narrow profit margin. Each one sold for a very reasonable $7.99. Then one day, Harry was watching television and a Walmart commercial came on. It showed Walmart's new polka dot umbrella line-at a cost of $3.99 each!

Harry looked at his wife. Rita just shrugged and said, "Walmart pays me triple what you do an hour to paint polka dots. So Harry had to go out of business because he could not make his green polka dot umbrellas for $3.99 each. He had no idea he had just become Walmart's final competitor in the United States.

For awhile, U.S. consumers were happy with the assortment of umbrellas at Walmart. The new polka dotted line was especially popular and such a bargain. Then, Walmart management decided they could boost profits by making a limited umbrella line. They fired Harry's wife.

Soon, the only color umbrella U.S. consumers could buy at Walmart was blue. Walmart blue. Since Walmart was the only game in town, they raised the price of their blue umbrellas to $9.99. People were shocked and complained, but they had no choice but to buy these blue $9.99 umbrellas if they needed umbrellas.

It became that way with all Walmart products. There was only one version of everything U.S. consumers wanted or needed. The version Walmart wanted to sell. As product lines became more limited, prices continued to climb. It was the new Phase Two Walmart Strategy. Walmart had achieved Phase One: to become the world's largest retailer.

In the United States, the company changed its name to "Walmart U.S." Walmart China and Walmart India would complete Phase One and join Walmart U.S. soon. The rest of the world looked on with mixed feelings.

Then one torrentially rainy day in New York City, it happened. Those on the floors of buildings with views of the streets below noticed it first. In a sea of Walmart blue umbrellas, a couple of red umbrellas could be seen. Was it possible? Yes! The red umbrellas had pink polka dots.

The next rainy day, more red umbrellas could be seen, as well as yellow and green umbrellas. Walmart tried to punish the rogue umbrella makers by reintroducing a few more colors into the Walmart umbrella line. Walmart started to produce and tried to sell a few of these new colors but nobody bought them from the retail giant.

Thus, the Walmart wheel was reversed as individuals once again sought out creativity and uniqueness in the products they purchased, regardless of the price. Most of the new small retailers were like Harry, though, so most of their prices were reasonable.

Within ten years, Walmart had been dethroned. It was still one of the world's largest retailers, but it would never be the only game in town again.

Note: I write, "Walmart" as such, to be in line with the new look of the website. One no longer sees, "Wal-Mart" in corporate documentation.

If this Walmart article frosts you, you might as well read, "A Disturbing Walmart Christmas Commerical," so that you can be annoyed with me all at once!

Source: Personal View