Understanding The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman Free Essay Example, 1500 words

Wal-Mart's buying power allows them to set prices that have not anything to do with the provider and demand of the marketplace for a good. For instance, Wal-Mart used to sell a 12 pound, the gallon jar of Vlasic pickles for $2.97. Vlasic and Wal-Mart were creation an income of only one or two pennies a jar if that. This exacting price had nothing to do by means of the supply of cucumbers or the insist for pickles, but was a false price, compulsory by Wal-Mart to draw customers in with their "abundance of abundance". 3 Coercing Vlasic to agree to this price allowance move the majority of Vlasic's rents to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart also influences a company's products. Firms may drop brands that do not meet with Wal-Mart's performance expectations and try to tailor their products to be sure that Wal-Mart will carry them. Video game maker Planet Moon censored certain aspects of the game Giants, such as changing the color of blood from red to green, clothing a topless character, and toning dow n offensive language in order to have the game granted a "teen" rating by industry standards. We will write a custom essay sample on Understanding The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The logic behind the censorship? To ensure that Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers would carry their product. Wal-Mart also refuses to sell CDs with offensive lyrics and has been known to cover up or discontinue selling "racy" magazines such as Maxim. Censorship is an example of lessened product differentiation. In the pursuit of concessionary lower prices, production quality suffers. TV stands are made thinner, cheaper materials are used, and unnecessary extras are removed from products. This extreme influence that Wal-Mart has over the products that are supplied to consumers is a little frightening. The loss of variety, quality, and obvious censorship involved is a disturbing effect that Wal-Mart has on the product market. According to the expert analysis, it is a relief to discover that Fishman an editor at Fast corporation magazine is not just one more journalist on an assignment to depiction Wal-Mart as a monstrous scheme next to the little g uy.