The New Normal

I know Walmart is a bad word to anyone servicing better tiers, but guess what, they’re the ones benefiting from the economy. Moreover, they just might maintain much of that market share post recovery. Everyone keeps wondering if people will ever return to pre-recession level spending. While I think Americans have extremely short memories and will return to shopping, I don’t think it’ll be with the same abandon as before. (And that’s a good thing—look where it got us.) Stores like Walmart seem to have the same theory. They’re currently positioning themselves to hold onto consumers that have become recent converts. For those that have discovered the low prices that these stores can offer on toothpaste and diapers, why would they opt to pay more? The question becomes, where will they buy items, like clothes, that aren’t solely price dependent? In the case of apparel, mass chains are going to need to boost their quality and style to hang onto bargain shoppers. But that doesn’t mean that better retailers don’t have a few lessons to learn as well. What lessons has the recession taught you about running your business smarter?