{"id":402866,"date":"2011-04-27T19:24:46","date_gmt":"2011-04-27T19:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/"},"modified":"2011-04-27T19:24:46","modified_gmt":"2011-04-27T19:24:46","slug":"wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are running out of money"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"wal-mart,Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke (left) speaking to a gathering of industry watchers in New York on Wednesday.<\/strong><\/span> By Parija Kavilanz<\/a>, senior writer<\/span>April 27, 2011: 3:24 PM ET<\/span><\/p>\n

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Wal-Mart’s core shoppers are running out of money much faster than a year ago due to rising gasoline prices, and the retail giant is worried, CEO Mike Duke said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“We’re seeing core consumers under a lot of pressure,” Duke said at an event in New York. “There’s no doubt that rising fuel prices are having an impact.”<\/p>\n

Wal-Mart shoppers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, typically shop in bulk at the beginning of the month when their paychecks come in.<\/p>\n

Lately, they’re “running out of money” at a faster clip, he said.<\/p>\n

“Purchases are really dropping off by the end of the month even more than last year,” Duke said. “This end-of-month purchases cycle is growing to be a concern.<\/p>\n

Wal-Mart (WMT<\/a>, Fortune 500<\/a>), which averages 140 million shoppers weekly to its stores in the United States, is considered a barometer of the health of the consumer and the economy.<\/p>\n

To that end, Duke said he’s not seeing signs of a recovery yet.<\/p>\n

What’s more, Duke said Wal-Mart consumers are seeing higher prices on fresh groceries but hopes that lower prices on electronics could help drive sales.<\/p>\n

Wal-Mart has struggled with seven straight quarters of sales declines in its stores. Addressing that challenge, Duke said the company made a mistake of shunning its “every day low prices” mantra and removing products from stores, a move it recently corrected.<\/p>\n

“What’s made Wal-Mart great over the decades is ‘every day low prices’ and our product assortment,” he said. “We got away from it.”<\/p>\n

Now, with its low prices all the time strategy back in place, Duke said making Wal-Mart a “one-stop shopping stop” is a critical response to dealing with rising price of fuel.<\/p>\n

Americans don’t have the luxury of driving all over town to do their shopping.<\/p>\n

Other than competing on prices and products, Duke said Wal-Mart is focused on leveraging technology — especially social networking — more aggressively to drive sales.<\/p>\n

“Social networking is much more a part of the purchasing decision,” he said. “Consumers are communicating with each other on Facebook about how they spend their money and what they’re buying.”<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Duke said Wal-Mart is exploring a number of e-commerce initiatives to grow the business such as testing an online groceries delivery business in San Jose.\u00a0\"To<\/a><\/p>\n

First Published: April 27, 2011: 2:15 PM ET<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Read more here:
\nWal-Mart: Our shoppers are running out of money<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke (left) speaking to a gathering of industry watchers in New York on Wednesday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":399486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-402866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"yoast_head":"\nWal-Mart: Our shoppers are running out of money - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are running out of money - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke (left) speaking to a gathering of industry watchers in New York on Wednesday.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are running out of money\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-27T19:24:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/\"},\"wordCount\":440,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/\",\"name\":\"Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are running out of money - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-27T19:24:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are running out of money - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are running out of money - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke (left) speaking to a gathering of industry watchers in New York on Wednesday.","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are running out of money","datePublished":"2011-04-27T19:24:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/"},"wordCount":440,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Local News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/","name":"Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are running out of money - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2011-04-27T19:24:46+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/wal-mart-our-shoppers-are-running-out-of-money\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}