Roulston Retail Partner Dick Seesel on Walmart’s Slow Rollout of Small Format Stores

The Walmart Express small store initiative has been a big bet for the company and they have been rolling them out slower than expected as a test market. The concept was designed to give Walmart the ability to reach consumers in large areas where it previously didn’t have a presence while being an alternative to dollar stores and limited assortment grocers such as Aldi. The company’s recent financial results have shown that they are exceeding expectations as U.S. same-store sales increased 2.6 % and store traffic rose for the second straight quarter. Dick states, “When Walmart is satisfied that its pilot that is ready to roll out nationally, there is no doubt that it can move fast. There is still plenty of real estate out there, including takeover space available at the right price. The key is to make sure that the merchandise message inside Walmart Express is clearly defined: A knee-jerk response to dollar stores or chains like Aldi is probably not what’s called for.” To read the full article please visit http://www.retailwire.com/blog-post/a30a41f5-2be3-409e-8c19-26d9416e4731/walmart-goes-slow-on-small-formats.

Richard Seesel is the Manager and owner of Retailing In Focus, LLC. He was most recently a Senior Vice President and Divisional Merchandise Manager at Kohl’s Department Stores. Dick is proud to have helped Kohl’s grow from 18 stores to a national retail powerhouse, during an era of change and consolidation throughout the retail industry.