Just checked a list of GDP rankings... WTF, Germany not 3rd anymore?!?!

[Roland]

"1. Which country has the most people living in households with household income of $100K or more?"

US-$ ? Has to be the US, most income here is in euros...

Krazy:
The US-$ buys you more hamburgers, and less healthcare in relation to most western countries. So your purchase pattern should strongly influence your perception.

China at 6 trillion $ ? Seems a bit overdone...

[Sikander]

"The US-$ buys you more hamburgers, and less healthcare in relation to most western countries."

With all the money I save on burgers I can afford to get by-pass surgery!

[KrazyHorse]

I'm aware of that. That's why I called it "vaguely scientific".

[Roland]

Sorry then. But you talked about a Walmart only...

[KrazyHorse]

Semi-sort-of-barely-vaguely-pseudo-scientific. All right?

[Roland]

NOW it's economics!

[KrazyHorse]

[Provost Harrison]

Walmart seem to own everything nowadays, not surprised they are classed as such a big company. They now own the large supermarket chain of Asda in this country. Today Walmart, tomorrow THE WORLD. Oh bugger, they already bought that one

[Ecthy]

walmart tried t oinvade germany, but their dumping didn't work... in Cottbus, Kaufland is still more popular than WalMart, which used to be some Spar thing... I wouldn't mind the Dutch making profit from us, but yanks? nah!

[Ted Striker]

If WalMart wants your market, they will take it. They are ruthless.

That's what happened in Canada. The Canadians wouldn't let Walmart open stores there, so they just bought out their competitor instead.

Hey Deutschlander, why don't you get smart and leave those Eurocoms behind, they are holding down the great Fatherland, come join us instead. You and the Brits are welcome but the rest of the Eurocoms are on their own.

[Roland]

Originally posted by Ted Striker
If WalMart wants your market, they will take it. They are ruthless.

Not ruthless enough for the german market. Dominated by price competition on razor thin margins - they had serious starting problems. Might do better now, but I think they are still losing money.

[Ted Striker]

So the game is afoot and far from over, my friend.

Viva L' Walmart!

Just don't buy any fish from them, they do a sh1tty job on taking care of them...

[Roland]

Of course it's not over. Walmart has deep pockets, so they'll make their share. Question is how far they get. They tried selling goods below their purchase prices (extreme form of "loss leader selling", I think) but that resulted in the large competitors doing the same, and the competition authority intrevening...

[Ted Striker]

Yeah they have deep pockets, HUGE leverage, and a super high level of skill at price leverage.

It sounds like alot of companies could be hurt with that kind of loss leader invasion.

Herr Rechtsberater,

What kinds of companies compete with WalMart in Germany? Are they multinational Euro chains? German-owned chains? Target?

[Roland]

Aldi is a german one with european reach. Not sure which are the other main competitors... Ahold bought into the german market too IIRC... then there's one with several brands, who bought Billa in Austria, just can't remember their abbreviation.

The world's largest retail chains are mostly european - but with walmart being the biggest by far. Seems they ate all the american competition...