Out-Discounting The Discounter

摘要

When wal-mart Stores Inc. comes to town, other stores―from grocers to hobby shops―quake. But while mighty Wal-Mart may look invincible, one retailing sector has learned to feast on the crumbs that the giant discounter leaves behind. Dollar stores, those bare-bones, strip-mall chains that sell staples and knickknacks at cut-rate prices, are now the fastest-growing retailers in America. They've become an alternative for a growing legion of shoppers who find Wal-Mart a bit too pricey or a bit too hard to get to. Led by Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree, the sector has added more than 4,000 new stores in the past three years, an increase of 34%. So far, they're just a speck on the Wal-Mart landscape; combined sales for the group totaled $16 billion last year, compared with $178 billion at Wal-Mart's nameplate U.S. discount stores. But that doesn't mean they've escaped notice. As the dollar stores are expanding and attracting a bigger pool of customers with more name-brand products, Wal-Mart and a handful of other retailers are testing their own dollar-store sections to head off the competition. "They are a major threat, so much so that Wal-Mart will eventually have to buy one of these chains or start one," predicts Harvard University professor John R. Stilgoe, who has studied Wal-Mart's and the dollar stores' growth. Says Sharon Weber, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman: "There is room in the retail environment for all types of competitors."