Wal-Mart: Is There a Downside to Going Upscale?
Wal-Mart is an American public multinational corporation which operates in different product lines. It has food and beverages, clothing, consumer electronics, as well as medical clinics. However, the company faced problems with slowing growth and rocky transitions leading them to some changes, developments and innovations to improve their competitive edge.

Wal-Mart has been affected by the changes in the external environment. Before, consumers patronize their low-priced goods. They were just selling low-priced apparels, which were regarded as cheap. However, as time pass by, markets have been saturated. Consumers’ preferences changed, and what they need to do is to adapt with those changes to avoid being left out. Wal-mart is trying to match up with its chief discount rival, the Target. Due to the change that happened, Wal-mart was forced to move to selling of high-end and trendy products. Their products were priced high, and at the same time they are marketing its quality. Demographics also caused the change. They are targeting the aging baby boomers – those where the group of people with high spending power. To ensure that the strategy will be a success, they opened an experimental store wherein they noticed that the sale of expensive consumer electronics topped Wal-mart’s income, compared to the previous years, that the company’s major source of income is the food and beverages. There is also a clothing line, Metro 7, which have been patronized by consumers, resulting to high demand, and trouble maintaining stocks.

Aside from the effect of competition and demographics, it was also seen that the company lacks other opportunities for growth. It was also a factor that pushed Wal-mart to adjust to its environment. They have been trying several options to widen its competence in the market and to establish itself