Wal-Mart is recognized as the biggest and best-managed US enterprise. With its "Always Low Prices" strategy it has driven its competitors out of business as it opens big-box stores around the world. Wal-Mart’s growth has come at the expense of its workforce – especially its female employees – as it offers substandard pay and health benefits.
This ‘race-the-bottom’ strategy has worked brilliantly in every market – except in Germany. Der Spiegel reports that Wal-Mart has fallen on hard times in the German market. There are several reasons for this failure.
For one thing, Wal-Mart came into the Germany by acquiring 74 Intershop stores. It turned out that these stores were in bad locations. Many of the Wal-Mart stores now have a cheap, run-down appearance. Also, offering consistently low prices is not enough to lure the German shoppers, who are accustomed to finding super-bargains.
Deutschland
ist Discountland. Kaum ein Konsument ist so preisbewusst wie der
Deutsche. Billigangebote sind nichts Neues und an jeder Ecke steht ein
Aldi- oder Lidl-Markt. Mit seinen "Dauerniedrigpreisen" mag Wal-Mart in
den USA die Leute locken, hier dagegen zeigt sich die Kundschaft
abgehärtet.
But probably the biggest disappointment for Wal-Mart has been its inability to take advantage of cheap labor. The company faces constant conflict with ver.di, the trade union that organizes retail store workers. As a consequence, Wal-Mart has received more than its share of unwanted headlines.
Wal-Mart doesn’t release financial results by geographic region, but according to Der Spiegel the company’s 2004 revenues in Germany are well below budget, the workforce has been reduced from 17,000 employees to 14,000, and the company is closing stores. The future doesn’t look bright, and Wal-Mart may be forced to make an acquisition in order to make a go of it in Germany:
Viele Möglichkeiten hat Wal-Mart nicht. Das Unternehmen muss in
Deutschland wachsen statt zu schrumpfen, um endlich profitabel zu
werden. Fragt sich nur, wie. Zwar kündigte die US-Führung Anfang
Oktober den Bau neuer Filialen an, zum Thema Deutschland sagten die
Verantwortlichen aber nichts. Als wahrscheinlicher gilt eine Übernahme.
In der Branche kursieren Gerüchte, dass Wal-Mart die Real-Kette vom
Metro-Konzern
kaufen könnte. Zwar sichten die Verantwortlichen derzeit bundesweit
Möglichkeiten für eine Expansion. Konkrete Pläne geben sie aber nicht
preis.
Wal-Mart may not be meeting the expectations of its shareholders in Germany, but at least the German employees don’t have the same awful conditions described by Barbara Ehrenreich in her book Nickel and Dimed: On (not) Getting By In America, published in Germany as Arbeit Poor.
