Wal-Mart Stores Not Catering to Customer Needs, Losing Customers

Wal-Mart is a favorite shopping spot for many middle and lower class individuals looking to save money. However, with prices going up and service and selection going down, they may be losing business.

My family and I have always been faithful Wal-Mart shoppers. Wal-Mart Super Center stores used to have the largest selection at the lowest prices, making them a great place to shop on a budget. However, Wal-Mart stores seem to be taking a turn for the worst. If they continue in the current direction, they'll likely lose our business, and the business of many others as well.

The first thing we noticed going downhill at the various Wal-Mart stores in our area was the customer service. If you could manage to find an employee they were often obviously disinterested in helping a customer, and the phrase "It's not my department" was uttered far too many times, with no attempts made to locate someone who could help. As a customer I want to be able to walk up to an employee and have them help me and show a polite attitude, not act like I'm a serious annoyance in their day.

The next thing we noticed is the dwindling selection of the products we buy. Many brands have been removed completely, or low cost products are being discontinued and replaced with higher cost items. Everything from breakfast foods to bird food to TV dinners have been disappearing from the shelves. Nearly every time we go into one of our local stores there are large empty areas on shelves where products are being removed.

We have actually looked online at brand websites and such to be sure that the products aren't being discontinued nationally. It quickly becomes apparent that Wal-Mart is making the choice to stop carrying products. They seem to be heading toward healthy and ethnic products that are far more expensive than their previous products.

That leads to our most recent observation, and that is the prices. Not only are less expensive products being replaced with more expensive ones, prices in general are going up all over the store. Over the past year prices have slowly gone up, and in the last few months the price hikes have been noticeable. Even Wal-Mart's store brand products are getting very close to brand name prices. We are on a limited food stamp budget, and as time goes on we're able to get less and less food each month due to steadily rising prices.

Because of the unfortunate changes that have been happening at our Wal-Mart stores we've begun shopping at Kroger instead. As a grocery-only store they do have higher prices, but it's the only way to get the foods we want. Considering some of the special dietary needs we have, we don't have a lot of wiggle room on what brands to buy. Also, like many people, we're wary of trying new and more expensive brands because we might not like them, so we stick to brands we know.

Wal-Mart's trend of less service and selection and only catering to those who can afford the new higher priced items may hurt them in the long run as people begin going back to local grocery stores to get the service and selection they desire.