Wal-Mart makes impact with change in stores

McClatchy Tribune

MINNEAPOLIS — The Wal-Mart store in Eagan, Minn., is a far cry from what it was five months ago. Gone are the pallets of merchandise that clogged the main aisles. The navy-colored signs have been replaced by a soft blue. Food offerings have tripled. And merchandise shelves are so low, shoppers can stand in one corner of the store and see across nearly every department. “I love it,” said Laura Johnson, a nurse who stopped by the store after work recently to pick up a couple of gallons of milk and get advice on netbook and notebook computers from the expanded consumer electronics department.

“The store is more organized. I like how it looks. And they have food — lots more food!” said Johnson, a mother of two teenagers. The overhaul is part of a five-year, companywide effort launched late last year called Project Impact.

The strategy aims not just to make stores look cleaner and more open, but to fine-tune vast product offerings and reframe the way Wal-Mart markets itself to consumers. In many ways, Wal-Mart has become more like its top competitor — Minneapolis-based Target Corp. The strategy comes at a key time.

As the recession has widened, Wal-Mart has continued to outperform nearly all retailers, including Target, as well as stores that aim for a piece of its business, such as Best Buy, Toys “R” Us and even smaller specialty chains such as Michaels crafts store. Now the fight is on to keep those shoppers.

Going into the crucial holiday season, Wal-Mart cut prices earlier and on more items. It dropped prices on best-selling books, such as Stephen King’s “Under the Dome,” to under $9 online, forcing Amazon and Target to match prices.

This week it began selling Nintendo Wii consoles for $149 (if you include a $50 Wal-Mart gift card), $100 less than prices a year ago.

While a Time magazine headline called Project Impact “a move to crush the competition,” the company distanced itself from such terms of aggression. “I don’t know that it rises to the level of war,” said Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley. “It’s good, old-fashioned price competition. War implies so many things that I don’t think reflect what we’re doing.”

It’s hard not to notice that Wal-Mart stores are looking more and more like Target.

The floors are shiny, the lighting is bright. The vibe of “Action Alley,” the main walkway around the store perimeter, has changed. What once evoked a warehouse, grab-and-go treasure hunt that encouraged customers to weave around stacks of deeply discounted merchandise has given way to roomier aisles. Everything is being simplified — from the number of words on signs to prices.