Walmart: Is It Possible To Drive Far?

Today’s customer seeks the convenience of one-stop shopping that we offer. From grocery and entertainment to sporting goods and crafts, Walmart provides a deep assortment that customers appreciate -- whether they're shopping on-line at Walmart.com, through mobile apps or shopping in a store (Our Story: Walmart, n.d.).

From a functionalist perspective, Walmart offers low prices on many everyday items, all under one roof, which our convenience first society makes a top priority. We know that a trip to Walmart will also, many times, offer us the opportunity to socialize with one we seldom see or talk to; everyone shops at Walmart after all. Unfortunately, this bigger is better mentality often times means small business owners can no longer compete and local businesses close; they simply cannot compete with selection or volume buying power. Let us not forget the guilty

Not only Wal-Mart is saving money for consumers, Wal-Mart creates jobs, improve economic conditions and overall improve the areas in where they operate. Wal-Mart usually open in rural and down trotted areas. A perfect example is Carol Foote. She and her friend Paula Beaulieu started a petition to open a

Some may claim a Walmarts’ arrival in a community is helpful to improve the growth and development in the community, but others tell a different story. Many claim that a Walmart is great way to create new jobs in the community. They are partially right, between construction and development, plenty of jobs are created. Also, about 300 retail jobs are created based on the amount needed to run a Walmart super center twenty fours a day, seven days a week. However, Kenneth Stone, a professor of economics at Iowa State University, conducted a study in which two Super Walmart centers in two different states were evaluated. The study lasted about two years and showed that for every one job Walmart had created, 1.4 jobs were lost in local communities (Davidson 1). Walmarts’ low prices come with additional costs that we are

Is Wal-mart the ideal store to shop it? Austrian economic and business professional Karen De Coster and banker Brad Edmonds believe that Wal-mart improves the lives of people in rural areas because it gives them access to a lifestyle that they would not have if Wal-mart did not exist.

I cannot emphasize enough saying there is more WalMarts than needed in many cities but not only that, thanks to all the power they have

Beginning with the cons, Walmart has been known for having low pay and unpredictable work schedules for their employees. Employees have held numerous protests regarding these issues about labor policy. The workers are being paid too little to afford to live at their accustomed lifestyle (low-class, middle-class, or high-class as discussed about in lecture). Additionally, the unpredictable work schedules often require employees to constantly work overtime, start early in the morning, or create difficulties with life outside of work (such as making an appointment). Alongside those issues, the most known problem about Walmart is that local businesses tend to close when a Walmart gets built in an urban area. Local businesses simply can’t compete with Walmart in the marketplace

Walmart hurts local communities and drives out small businesses. “In the old days you actually support a family selling electronics or running a general store. But you can’t support a family working at Walmart. The vast majority of the jobs that Walmart create are very low paying. Large numbers of Walmart employees are on welfare, and this is part of the reason why we have seen an expansion in the number of the working poor in America.’-economyincrisis.org

Would you like it if your neighborhood slowly fell into ruin? Walmart and other big box stores destroy neighborhoods and should be banned. First of all, big box stores are bad for local business owners. Specialty stores lose customers, because of the convenience and a wide selection of products, people tend to shop there instead. For example, many butcher shops shut down, because Walmart has its own meat Section. In addition, having a big box store built in your area can change your daily life. They bring in more traffic and noise, clogging up the roads you usually take, and exchanging the chirping of birds for honking car horns. Dan Freeman, lives on Bleaker Street, had a store built in the area recently and he says, "its changed so much".

Not only does Walmart directly affect the economical situation of your community, it also puts significant strain upon the environment we live and depend on. In October of 2004, North America sued Walmart for violating the Clean Water Act CWA in nine states, causing a huge uproar both from the defensive Walmart corporation and more so from the targeted communities. Relying upon a communities oblivion, Walmart takes advantage of the situation in which it's presented, posing a threat to all nearby water supplies because of all the toxins and pesticides literally oozing from Walmart facilities worldwide. Much more costly towards the environment than the tinkling of spare change resounding in our pockets. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that a single Walmart location expends countless amounts of energy to maintain,

Online shopping and in- store shopping are different in various ways. Online shopping has become an increasingly common staple of life in the 21st century. It is popularity can be credited to the fact that convenience highly valued in our world today. Online shopping is most convenient for individuals that don’t have time to go to the store. If you’re busy with an online job or online classes then online shopping can sometimes be more convenient. It’s also convenient since you don’t have to drive, catch the bus, wait in a long line, or deal with not being able to find item. All you have to do is type in the item you are looking for and it’s there. Once you find the item, you can order it anytime because online stores never close.

When comparing two different ways of shopping most people do not even think about the difference, they do both and not even realize it. In today's society people shop while at work, after work and on the weekends, whenever time permits. Stop and think how can I get more time in the day for family or just myself? The best way to figure that out with all the recourses we have is to go into a store and spend time looking through racks and waiting in endless lines to just purchase something. I compared going into a store verses online shopping; to see which one will save you time and money.

In addition, a huge benefit of shopping online is that it allows product and specification comparison so you can purchase what you need and pay less. Online stores have a lower overhead than the traditional stores offering better deals, and the consumer is able to find the product they want at a better price. In traditional brick-and-mortar stores, sales have limited quantities at hand, but online stores are able to keep a bigger inventory giving online shoppers more opportunities to find a bargain. In fact, shopping at several stores at the same time guarantees the consumer the best deal. Shopping online is simple, and finding the right product is easier. If you are shopping for a digital camera at the store it might be a little overwhelming to see the camera selection with so many specifications. Sales representatives can sometimes be misleading in an effort to make the sale. Online side-by-side product comparison will allow the consumer to

There are more categories of products on the internet. And there are a lot of choices that people can choose, so they can buy what they want. The choice of a store is very much influenced by location and store types (Sinha, p.14). But brick and mortar stores have fewer kinds of products than online, and online shopping does not be influenced by location. Also, people do not need to be afraid to go buy some private things, if they want to buy in public store, such as, sanitary towel, underwear and so on. Because they can buy it on the internet and even it has more choices. Moreover, if customers want to buy a lot of things, and those things are not in the same place, then they need to run around here and there to buy all kinds of products they want. However, online shopping does not have this problem. People do not need to go out on a sunny or rainy day, just stay at home and pay it on the phone or computer. But the mall can provide some services for customers that are not available online, such as urgent care medical centers and roller coasters (Resnick, pp.1127-1128). Even then, online shopping is still better than traditional shopping. Furthermore, people can compare merchandise from different shops, so they can choose the cheapest and the best. Customers can try on new forms of apparel in stores, but it is too risky to purchase it based on pictures and text description in the internet (Resnick,

Walmart strives to bring good value to its customers under one roof. They provide a wide variety of goods and brands at competitive prices.