Walmart’s tagline is “Save money. Live better.” I ask, who is saving money and living better? Walmart execs or the American public?
The Arkansas based corporation operates 2,898 Walmart Supercenters in the United States. This does not include Wal-Mart Discount Stores or Neighborhood Markets by Walmart.
Walmart sells pretty much everything. In fact, the corporation developed its Supercenters “to meet the growing demand for convenient, one-stop family shopping.” One-stop shopping is pretty profitable because Walmart’s fiscal year 2010 net sales reached $405 Billion with operating income of $24 Billion. According to its 2010 annual report, Wal-Mart’s return on investment was 19.3%.
Walmart U.S. accounted for 63.8% of Walmart’s fiscal year 2010 sales. This means that U.S. consumers spent approximately $263 Billion at Walmart last year. Sadly, much of the $263 Billion was spent on imported products. For instance, products from Walmart’s private apparel line Faded Glory are imported. Note the irony in this considering Faded Glory appears to be a reference to the American Flag.
Walmart took $263 Billion from U.S. consumers in one year, yet it imports clothing for its private label line. I wonder why Walmart chose to manufacture Faded Glory products abroad? I’m going to take a wild guess and assume it made this decision to save money. After all, if Walmart saves money, the Walmart executives get to live better.
