Walmart Music Store

[JoeMacDaddy]

THE RETAIL BOTTOM FEEDER STRIKES AT MUSIC.

Wal-Mart sells cheap quality items to folks with little money. Wal-Mart must be buying tons of cheap MP3 players from someone to go with the $399 PC with no monitor and your prepaid music card along with their prepaid telephone card so they don't have to stock any merchandise.

I really feel great pity on the poor public that buys their "Everyday Low Priced" whatever.

 

[leet1]

Re: THE RETAIL BOTTOM FEEDER STRIKES AT MUSIC.

Originally posted by JoeMacDaddy
Wal-Mart sells cheap quality items to folks with little money. .

Im sure someone is going to be offended by you saying this, which by the way isn't true it all.

 

[~Shard~]

Walmart, you crazy trend-setter you...

Wow, Walmart is being pretty inonovative and original with this idea - how come Apple hasn't thought of this yet?

😉

 

[balconycollapse]

Clearly Wal-Mart wants to be the music store for "guys with confederate flags on their trucks". JebTunes ^_^

Seriously though. Wal-Mart is the only option for many people to buy music who live in small town america, especially in the south. Your town might have a post office but if it has a Walmart ya got something at least. I've been to the birthplace summering over in Oklahoma. Where i live there is a walmart every mile and now they have these walmart neighboorhood stores that are pint size. They ruin the economy for other small businesses and buy 10 year leases on buildings leaving them empty when they build the superwalmart so competitors can't move in to them. Lets see what games they play in music. I dislike strongly the fact that they censor music because it leads to the dumming down of america and spread of conservativism. They could concievably give a free song to everyone who walks in the door as a promotion and just raise the price of everything in the store a penny for a day to pay for it. I wouldn't be surprised if they had walmart kiosks at the door with a cd burner for instant gratification for customers. How many people do you thing visit walmart everyday? Scary. 100 million pepsi/apple songs could get dwarfed.

-------
vote howard dean

 

[~Shard~]

Re: Re: THE RETAIL BOTTOM FEEDER STRIKES AT MUSIC.

Wal-Mart sells cheap quality items to folks with little money. .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by leet1
Im sure someone is going to be offended by you saying this, which by the way isn't true it all.

Actually I have to say that in a way, this comment is true. I was recently at a conference where the CEO of Walmart spoke, and he said that Walmart's business model actually is focused on people with lower incomes. He actually said he doesn't want to focus on bringing wealthier customers into the store - every business has to have its target market and a certain group of people it wants to focus on and directly serve the needs of, and he pretty much came out and said that Walmart's focus in on the people who need to save those few dollars here and there. Its Walmart's business model and their focus. As for the "cheap quality items", I agree they aren't the best quality, but again, everything has its place...

Just wanted to pass along his comments - don't shoot the messenger... 😉

Cheers,
Scott

 

[sethypoo]

You all shouldn't be getting on Wal*Mart's case quite yet, give them a chance to prove themselves. Then attack. Viciously. 😉

Just to add: I've probably purchased the majority of my CD's from retail places like Wal*Mart and Fred Meyer. I don't think it's very fair to say that they "suck." Many small town folks depend on them.

 

[daddy-mojo]

Re: Re: THE RETAIL BOTTOM FEEDER STRIKES AT MUSIC.

Originally posted by leet1
Im sure someone is going to be offended by you saying this, which by the way isn't true it all.

How is that offensive? There is truth to it. Some of my family shops there. I go there once in awhile to get deals on household cleaning supplies & socks. I hate going though, its always a freakin' madhouse. Its true though, its designed for people with lower incomes. They are the middle child of the great kmart/walmart/target food chain.😕

 

[sethypoo]

Re: Re: THE RETAIL BOTTOM FEEDER STRIKES AT MUSIC.

Originally posted by leet1
Im sure someone is going to be offended by you saying this, which by the way isn't true it all.

Yeah, there is some truth to it. I once spoke to a manager of my local Wal*Mart and he said to me that the majority of shoppers they get there are lower income people.

Then again, this has nothing to do with the topic of this thread, whoops! arn, forgive me.

I'll give the Wal*Mart music store a try, if they're smart enough to put it on the Mac!

 

[leet1]

Hmm, well I don't get it. My family shops there, I guess other higher income families don't like to save money? lol


<don't want to take this thread off topic, lol>

Maybe one day, all stores that sell CDs will have an online store as well. 😀

 

[Makosuke]

Wal*Mart really is the Microsoft of retail chains, except instead of gouging the consumer due to their monopoly status they make it up in volume, but have the same disasterous results on competition. They are so big and so dominant that they can move into an area, drop a massive store in there, and absolutely crush any potential competition with through price undercutting.

Not enough business? Just sell CDs at a loss till most other retailers can't keep up with you. That's what happens when you're everywhere and have money coming out your ears. The fact that Wal*Mart is the largest employer IN THE WORLD is just frightening.

I would't even walk into one of their stores, and I sure wouldn't buy music online from them, even though it'll no doubt be incredibly cheap.

Funny... I live in a relatively small town 300 miles from the nearest city of any substance, and when Wal*Mart made plans to build a superstore here people fought viciously to keep them away... and actually succeeded. No Wal*Mart within at least 150 miles, and I'm proud of it.

Wildly unrelated, conspiracy theory thought: Wal*Mart is known to have a negative effect on local economies. And of all store chains in the world, who benefits most by people being poor? The one selling the cheapest (and lowest-quality) goods... Wal*Mart. They may be the only retailer in the world whose sales go up the poorer people get.

 

[ITR 81]

I'm offended.

My family shops there and they make over 100k a yr. Most folks that goto our Walmarts make avg of 40-50k a yr. I don't call that poor I call it middle class workers.

I have friend that makes around 4.1 million a yr from his company that updates PC's and Mac networks in school systems. He shops there and wears clothing from there. Hell I been buying my Dickies from them since 94'.

 

[Powerbook G5]

I'm a poor college student and if you ask anyone at my school they all love that we have a Wal Mart 3 miles down the street. It's a real life saver and their grocery section is literally like Publix with a permanent 40% off on all food items.

 

[coolbreeze]

OMG. I was just kidding when I posted this:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=565698#post565698

Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket!! (I will if K-mart jumps on the bandwagon)!

 

[Dros]

Re: Walmart Music Store

Originally posted by Macrumors
While no pricing details are available for the new music service, The Post notes that Walmart currently sells music at a loss at their retail stores to attract customers.

Interestingly, selling music as a loss leader won't help with the Walmart online store, unless they will be selling other stuff online.

Apple, on the other hand, could reduce music prices and still make some money since bringing people to the iTMS helps sell iPods.

So Apple is like the retail Walmart in this case.

 

[1macker1]

I'll be opening my music store Dec. 25, 2003. Downloads will be $200.00 each. You may choose from a wide selection of over 200 songs. You may only play each song once, and it will self destruct.

thank you, and have a nice day.

Originally posted by daRAT
*gag*

Oh please, I'd rather drive a screw driver into both ears than listen to wal-mart downloaded music.

 

[electric]

Wallmart sells name brand equipment but with cheaper parts, These lower quality products are made by the name brand companies. So I was told this by a TV repair person.

 

[Superdrive]

Jump on the bandwagon...

Again Apple sets the standard. Now there is a huge rush for everyone to jump on and get their piece of the pie. Kudos to Apple for making kick ass products.

 

[Foxer]

Ah, the liberal paradox. We all feel sorry for the "poor," but we also love to mock what they do (and God forbid we ever go to their icky store.)

Would I buy clothes or electronics or jewelry at Wal-mart - no, I've priced myself out of that market. Toys, DVD's, food, tools? Why not? Save a little cash. Sure, it's sort of like Darwin's waiting room in there, but I'm not that smug.

Walmart music store? Not for me, thanks. I suspect it will struggle, but I can't put my finger on why.

 

[Photorun]

Originally posted by sethypoo
Many small town folks depend on them.

BZZZT! Wrong! MOST small town folks depending on small mom and pop shops that bolstered the local economies in small town America like where I grew up, better yet, those mom and pops were on downtown main streets, keeping small towns vital. Then Wallyworld came in with their wholesale junk, always located in some strip maul (int) just outside of town, killing mom and pop shops, bringing in minimum wage at best jobs with their junks, and effectively killing small town's downtowns. I can rattle off 10-15 small towns raped by Wallyworld. They're incidious and evil... you have your facts wrong, the only reason perhaps any small town folk depends on them is because they've decimated small town USA and now that's all that little struggling town with no downtown or it's own local jobs and markets has left... it's like relying on cancer for life, it's evil of homogenization corporate America in it's most sickening.

 

[idkew]

Originally posted by Powerbook G5
I'm a poor college student and if you ask anyone at my school they all love that we have a Wal Mart 3 miles down the street. It's a real life saver and their grocery section is literally like Publix with a permanent 40% off on all food items.

off topic but: you are the poor people. college kids are POOR. i just graduated and i am still POOR. i got all my "generic" stuff at 'mart (detergent, paper, pens, garbage cans...), but i bought clothes and food elsewhere.

on topic: walmart will prolly use predatory pricing, i agree. i also agree with the statements that they will censor thier music and have lots of dmr. it might just be in wmv (or whatever MSFT's format is) and therefore unavailable to ipoders without some work.

 

[mjconnor]

Re: THE RETAIL BOTTOM FEEDER STRIKES AT MUSIC.

Originally posted by ~Shard~
Wal-Mart sells cheap quality items to folks with little money. .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Actually I have to say that in a way, this comment is true. I was recently at a conference where the CEO of Walmart spoke, and he said that Walmart's business model actually is focused on people with lower incomes.

--------------------------
These quotes remind me of a of line from "Fight Club." Norton mentions the irony of using liposuction fat to make super high end soap that then is sold back to the lipo patients.

By screwing workers, suppliers, union-busting, etc. and (temporarily) selling products at a great loss to build market share, Wal-Mart enriches itself at the expense of the communities it "serves." Sure, times are tight, but poor folks shopping at Wal-Mart are being sold the knife to cut their own throats.

 

[Tulse]

Interestingly, selling music as a loss leader won't help with the Walmart online store, unless they will be selling other stuff online.

Agreed -- I don't understand the business case here at all. Online sales aren't going to drive people to a brick-and-mortar store. Apple seems to have figured out how to make money from online music, but that's by selling more music players, and not by selling the music itself. And Apple can afford to do that because the margin on the iPod is so high. I can't imagine that Wal*Mart would be successful in emulating that strategy (it's a low-margin, high-volume retailer).

 

[Marble]

Originally posted by Foxer
Ah, the liberal paradox. We all feel sorry for the "poor," but we also love to mock what they do (and God forbid we ever go to their icky store.)

Would I buy clothes or electronics or jewelry at Wal-mart - no, I've priced myself out of that market. Toys, DVD's, food, tools? Why not? Save a little cash. Sure, it's sort of like Darwin's waiting room in there, but I'm not that smug.

Walmart music store? Not for me, thanks. I suspect it will struggle, but I can't put my finger on why.

The liberal paradox? I don't shop at Walmart because it gives them money! I might buy clothes from an independent thrift store downtown, or maybe a donation-based chain like the Salvation Army or Casa de Los Ninos. Good grief... "save a little cash." *mutter*

Anyway, seeing as Walmart has a gross corporate product of about one-fourth of the US GNP (the company is richer than most third-world countries in the world - and much more wealthy than Microsoft), I could see an aggressive corporate strategy on their part to be a threat, if online commerce was a typical activity of their consumer base.
As it is, purchasing music on-line is a luxury activity, and even if they make it friggin' cheap, it isn't likely to catch the attention of anyone but the people who might potentially use another service anyway. To get the prices lower, the songs themselves will probably be heaped with restrictions. That audience will have to compare services anyway to make the switch, and the vast majority will likely find it totally unacceptable.
I guess for Walmart, it doesn't really matter if it succeeds or fails, either way it doesn't add half-a-straw to the unladen camel's back.

 

[Brent Turbo]

Disappointing.

4 positives, 35 negatives.

How hypocritical. Microsoft is a monopoly that should be stopped, but fair competition in the "music store" arena is a bad thing? Hate to tell you, but monopolies suck no matter who's in charge. An Apple dominated computer world would be just as bad for everyone as a Microsoft dominated one.

 

[fredwick]

Originally posted by Photorun
BZZZT! Wrong! MOST small town folks depending on small mom and pop shops that bolstered the local economies in small town America like where I grew up, better yet, those mom and pops were on downtown main streets, keeping small towns vital. Then Wallyworld came in with their wholesale junk, always located in some strip maul (int) just outside of town, killing mom and pop shops, bringing in minimum wage at best jobs with their junks, and effectively killing small town's downtowns. I can rattle off 10-15 small towns raped by Wallyworld. They're incidious and evil... you have your facts wrong, the only reason perhaps any small town folk depends on them is because they've decimated small town USA and now that's all that little struggling town with no downtown or it's own local jobs and markets has left... it's like relying on cancer for life, it's evil of homogenization corporate America in it's most sickening.

AMEN WALMART IS EVIL!!!