Notes from
"The Wal-Mart Effect" by Charles Fishman
Sam Walton never let up. He wasn't the smartest, but he wanted to beat you, and he didn't ever give in. He thought that you can always do better, and you owe it to yourself and others to do better. Hard work will beat talent in the long run.
How to think about profit:
If I want to make $1 of profit, how many dollars of sales must I make? For Walmart, that number was $35.
More than 50% of Americans live within 5 miles of a Walmart; 90% live within 15 miles.
It is the largest retailer in both Canada and Mexico.
It employs between 1.2 and 1.6 million people directly within America.
Walmart could not afford to pay $12/hr without raising prices. I see no reason to subsidize a strangers wages.
The Walmart rules.
Get to work before they do.
Check your numbers constantly.
Don't spend money you don't have to.
Notice specifically what your competition is doing well.
Hausman/Leibtag paper argues that the way the BLS calculates inflation excludes Walmart, and that this systemic error keeps the inflation rate 15% lower than reported.
Walmarts low prices cause higher home inventory; if you are a Walmart shopper, it is likely that you have more underwear than your parents. That is the effect of fighting inflation.
Walmart has an informal rule that they don't want to control more than 30% of a supplier's business.
