Competitive Intelligence

Made-in-America, Wal-Mart & the Cheapening of U.S. Consumers

Why do people shop at Wal-Mart? Because it's cheap, that's why. And one of the chief reasons for Wal-Mart's price competitiveness is the $12 billion worth of goods it imported from China last year. To put that in perspective, the U.S. only imported $125 billion altogether from China in 2002; Wal-Mart represents 10 percent of the total!

I found a great article on the subject recently and excerpts are below:

http://www.industryweek.com/CurrentArticles/Asp/articles.asp?ArticleId=1473

"When asked, most U.S. consumers today will say they prefer to buy American brands and U.S.-made products, but with the influx of foreign goods -- U.S. imports totaled $1.2 trillion in 2002, 11% of U.S. GDP -- buying American is no longer practical in some instances and impossible in many others. Other priorities, such as quality, durability, style and price -- especially price -- often take precedence."

"Younger people who grew up shopping at the Wal-Mart on the outskirts of town may be the least likely to care if the label on their MP3 player says it was made in the U.S.A. or China. They've grown up with the global economy. With ongoing factory closures and layoffs it's increasingly unlikely that they or their parents work for a manufacturing company. Especially considering that less than 15 million people in United States (approximately 10% of the workforce) are employed in manufacturing today. Also, one wonders if it is even possible for a company to rely entirely on U.S.-based suppliers when so much of machinery, telecommunications equipment, packaging, uniforms and other commonplace supplies are coming from overseas."

- Arik