By George Anderson
According to the latest numbers from Retail Forward's Wal-Mart Shopper Update, half of the primary shoppers in U.S. households go shopping at a Wal-Mart store on a monthly basis. One-fourth of American households have someone who shops in a Wal-Mart Supercenter every week.
The growing number of consumers shopping at Wal-Mart combined with the frequency with which they shop has put Wal-Mart well on its way to achieving a 30 percent national market share in key product categories.
Other findings from Retail Forward's research include:
- Half of all Wal-Mart Supercenter shoppers visit the store on a weekly basis compared to only 20 percent of SuperTarget's shoppers.
- Two-thirds of Supercenter shoppers buy from both sides of the store.
Moderator's Comment: How has Wal-Mart been successful in getting so many Supercenter shoppers to buy from both parts of the store whereas SuperTarget, for example, has had less success? If you're a competitor of Wal-Mart's, what do you take from this latest update?
Sandy Skrovan, vice president at Retail Forward, manager of the company's new Wal-Mart World program and author of the Wal-Mart Shopper Update said, "What makes the Wal-Mart Supercenter model work is its ability to draw frequent traffic with low food prices while also getting shoppers to cross shop the higher-margin general merchandise aisles on the same trip." - George Anderson - Moderator