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It is no surprise that Walmart is faring well in the current recession. Its relentless focus on low prices plays perfectly to the growing number of shoppers in distress. The latest IRI Times & Trends Report, “Walmart Stores: Helping Consumers Navigate a Transforming Economy,” reveals that Walmart’s success story is much more nuanced than simply a focus on low prices.

“By the mid-2000s, Walmart’s omnipresence had begun to work against increasing sales and income as cannibalization became a concerning issue. Walmart needed a new plan,” says IRI Consulting and Innovation President Thom Blischok. “The strategies enacted by management represent an outstanding example of a retailer with an acute sense of shoppers’ evolving needs and the ability to change to meet those needs.”

Walmart has redefined and rewired many of the ways it touches shoppers, focusing on layout, convenience, new media and sustainability. Just a few examples of the retailer’s new approaches are:

• Walmart’s “Win, Play, Show” merchandising strategy has improved the efficiency of assortment and merchandising investment.
• “Fast, Friendly, Clean” demonstrates Walmart’s renewed focus on speeding up checkout time, ensuring associates are friendly and providing a less cluttered shopping experience.
• A leader in recognizing the potential of new media, Walmart has created the ElevenMoms network of influential bloggers. In addition, multiple beta sites on Walmart.com focus on issues and solutions important to shoppers, and its presence on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn touch younger shoppers tapping into social media.
• Walmart’s aggressive sustainability goals include becoming 100 percent supplied by renewable energy, creating zero waste and selling a greater range of sustainable products.

In addition, Walmart has redoubled its private label strategy. Its “Great Value” label is the nation’s largest food brand, with products across more than 100 categories. Great Value combined with Walmart’s other private label brands account for just under 25 percent of Walmart dollar sales for categories that IRI measures.

The IRI report outlines the following action steps that manufacturers can explore to capture incremental growth within Walmart:

• Partner with Walmart to understand key consumers at the market level and optimize assortment and promotional programs against these segments.
• Develop best-in-class marketing, pricing and promotion strategies to ensure maximum relevance and impact among fiscally weary U.S. consumers.
• Re-evaluate pricing strategies to ensure alignment against value needs of key consumer segments.

CPG retailers should consider the following action items within competitive strategies with respect to Walmart strategic initiatives and growth trends:

• Increase frequency and focus of consumer and market assessments; identify and implement strategies to drive trips and basket rings among key consumer segments.
• Drive purchase behavior through solutions-based promotional and merchandising strategies with a clear value proposition.
• Develop optimal assortment and merchandising focus by market to reflect changes in purchase and consumption rituals.

“It is easy to dismiss Walmart’s success as based solely on its ‘Everyday Low Prices’ focus,” adds Blischok. “While this is a critical component of the retailer’s success, it is just one of many. Walmart’s management has done a superlative job of understanding shopper attitudes and behaviors and continuously evolving Walmart’s value proposition to meet changing shopper needs. This is especially evident during today’s recession. Walmart continues to post healthy penetration and average basket gains.”