Yes - really...
Have you considered that Wal-Mart uses live fish as a loss leader?
People drop in to see the fish (buy or not)...and end up getting other stuff "while they're there"...and not getting that same stuff somewhere else (e.g. LFS, PetsMart, Best Buy, Target, etc.).
revenue from the live fish themselves aren't as important as bringing in traffic and increasing the overall market. Wal-Mart only will tolerate using live fish in this way, though, if the PROFITABILITY (revenue minus cost) stays competitive with other ways of driving traffic (advertising, promotions, etc.).
There are basically two ways that Wal-Mart can impact profitability:
1) selling more fish (and/or selling them for higher prices), which would seem to undermine its strategy of attracting people into the store for possible "deals" or
2) Minimizing cost and expense of maintaining its live fish (i.e. neglecting them / treating them like an expendable good...which can be written off).
You can guess which tact aligns more closely with Wal-Mart strategy
Another way that Wal-Mart could support its strategy is to stock fish that are interesting or cool to the average shopper: painted fish, parrots, glowfish, pacus (look Mom a piranha!), etc, etc... all of the fish that serious hobbyists find reprehensible.
Have you considered that Wal-Mart uses live fish as a loss leader?
People drop in to see the fish (buy or not)...and end up getting other stuff "while they're there"...and not getting that same stuff somewhere else (e.g. LFS, PetsMart, Best Buy, Target, etc.).
revenue from the live fish themselves aren't as important as bringing in traffic and increasing the overall market. Wal-Mart only will tolerate using live fish in this way, though, if the PROFITABILITY (revenue minus cost) stays competitive with other ways of driving traffic (advertising, promotions, etc.).
There are basically two ways that Wal-Mart can impact profitability:
1) selling more fish (and/or selling them for higher prices), which would seem to undermine its strategy of attracting people into the store for possible "deals" or
2) Minimizing cost and expense of maintaining its live fish (i.e. neglecting them / treating them like an expendable good...which can be written off).
You can guess which tact aligns more closely with Wal-Mart strategy
Another way that Wal-Mart could support its strategy is to stock fish that are interesting or cool to the average shopper: painted fish, parrots, glowfish, pacus (look Mom a piranha!), etc, etc... all of the fish that serious hobbyists find reprehensible.
Zeppelin3k;1914590; said:
