The Budding Wal-Mart Empire You Never Knew Existed

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-budding-wal-mart-empire-you-never-knew-existed-2013-12

If you think Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT ) is done stretching its tentacles throughout every city and town in America, then I have bad news for you: It's just getting started.

For much of the last few decades, the world's largest retailer focused on building out its now-omnipresent supercenters. The strategy was to cater to the so-called "stock-up" trip, the weekly or monthly visit in which customers purchased a large quantity of food, housing supplies, and general merchandise.

At last count, Wal-Mart's portfolio of supercenters exceeded 3,200 units, or 80% of its fleet of locations. The problem with such large stores, however, is that they can't be placed in near proximity to each other without cannibalizing sales. This left a vacuum that was soon filled by competitors like Dollar General and Family Dollar.

What to do? Should Wal-Mart just lay down and die? Or will it be able to get over the indignity of having a handful of deep-discount retailers feed on the scraps it absentmindedly left behind? Suffice it to say, neither of these options seem likely.



Read more: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/12/07/the-budding-wal-mart-empire-you-never-knew-existed.aspx#ixzz2mtRIYk8h